A Good Scientist
by Tacuun
Summary: Issei Hyoudou was a scientist, a rather bored one if he was honest. Then his 'girlfriend' tries to kill him, sprouting black wings in the process, showing him that maybe the world wasn't so boring after all. The only problem now? Getting Yuuma back to his basement before the drugs wear off...
1. Chapter 1

_**Unknown time, Unknown Location**_

Raynare's eyes blinked open, only to shut tightly against the harsh light blinding her. Eyes closed, the fallen lifted her arms to further block out the glaring light.

Rather, she tried to, only to find her arms unable to move. They were stuck at her sides, her wrists restrained to the surface of whatever she was currently laying on. The fallen managed to crack an eye open against the light and looked around.

The room was stark white, the walls covered in clear plastic. The scent of rubbing alcohol made her nose wrinkle in distaste. Raynare could see that she was strapped to a steel table, plastic restraints holding her arms and legs still. She scowled as she considered them; her supernatural strength should have made quick work of such mundane bindings, but the fallen felt sluggish. It was an effort to even turn her head.

A thrill of unease went through her as she considered the reason for her weakness; drugs that worked on the supernatural were exceedingly rare, but they existed.

So how had she been drugged? Raynare wracked her brain for answers, first recalling the last thing she remembered doing. She had just revealed herself to the Hyoudou boy after spending the day with him to get him alone. Well, she could have just intercepted him going home, but the city of Kuoh had proven remarkably boring, especially considering that it was enemy territory. So she had decided to play with the boy, make him think his life was looking up before she eventually killed him. The date had been incredibly awkward; the sacred gear holder couldn't seem to stop staring at her the entire time, awestruck by the fact that he was on a date with a beauty like herself. Granted he had a weird way of showing it, as his face remained passive as his eyes traced her every movement. Still, the fact that he was paying attention at all was remarkably different from the behavior he had displayed during her observations. The fallen had managed to trudge through it till midnight, when she had finally drawn the date to an end at fountain in the center of the park, a place she thought suitably dramatic.

Again, she had been quite bored.

But right as the fallen had revealed her wings and announced her intent to kill him, she felt a sting at her stomach. Then she had woken up here. Yes, it was almost certain that was when it had happened. _But who?_ Raynare ruled out Hyoudou; the boy was only a human, with no knowledge of the supernatural, and was quite infatuated with her. _Could it have been the devils? Did they know I was in the territory?_ The fallen couldn't rule out the possibility, but doubted it. She would be dead if she had been caught by devils.

So who?

"Subject has woken after only an hour since being dosed. Note: subject seems to have a resistance to Tetroxiden. Possibly a trait of her species." A dry baritone rang out from behind her.

Raynare's eyes darted to the origin of the voice and her eyes widened in shock.

Issei Hyoudou stood wearing the same clothing he had on before with a white lab coat over it. His expression was blank and professional, his brown eyes dully analyzing her as he spoke into a digital recorder.

The fallen attempted to speak, but only succeeded in making a wet gurgle.

"Even if it isn't as effective on your species, Tetroxiden affects the nerves in addition to rendering one unconscious. It dulls the signals sent from the brain to the rest of the body, resulting in limited control of the body. You won't be moving for at least the next six hours, though you might be able to speak in a few moments." The boy spoke again, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement as he walked to her side.

Raynare didn't try again, though it had more to do with sheer rage than anything else. A _human_ had done this to her? Something that was a mere cockroach in comparison to even a lowly devil had _drugged_ her?! Impossible! Even if he had used his sacred gear, it was much too weak to have any effect on her, which meant a _standard_ human had captured her. She wanted to grind her teeth; the fallen would start by ripping his arms off, then bludgeon his privates with one until-

She was taken out of her thoughts by a slight prick at her arm. While she had indulged in her fantasy, Hyoudou somehow acquired a syringe and multiple plastic vials, and began filling them with her blood.

Raynare was beginning to feel something other than anger. She wasn't sure what it was, but it left a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm quite glad you decided to show yourself to me."

Somehow, that didn't quell her stomachs uneasiness.

"You see, I've hit something of a... let's call writers block. After my success in robotics, I've felt... lost. The only area I haven't explored in robotics is nanotechnology, and I, unfortunately, lack the materials or equipment to pursue that route."

The boy cleared the table, setting the syringe and vials on a steel roller table to his side. He then lifted a briefcase from the floor and set it next to her body, fiddling with the lock as he did so.

"So, I've been looking for something to study until such a time that I _did_ have the materials and equipment. It's been," He grimaced, "harder than I anticipated. I tried researching genetics, but... well, I found it too limited to be interesting."

The lock clicked, and the briefcase opened. Hyoudou smiled at her now, softly, gently, with a dark glint entering his brown orbs, and Raynare suddenly understood that she was afraid. Of a human. No...

"I have high hopes for you."

Raynare was terrified.

 _ **2:00 A.M., Kuoh Academy- Occult Research Club**_

Akeno, a buxom beauty with long black hair held back in a pony tail by a yellow ribbon, wearing a Kuoh Academy uniform placed a hot cup of tea before her King, hoping that it would calm her down.

"Something _has_ to be wrong, the summoning circle should have been activated by midnight at the latest." Her King, Rias Gremory, bit her thumb in worry as she sat behind at her desk. She was a beautiful girl with long crimson hair and a heart shaped face, who also wore the Kuoh Academy uniform which was similarly strained under the girth of her breasts.

"Ara, perhaps this fallen decided to take things further than we thought?" Akeno mused with a lightness she didn't feel.

"With what my familiar saw? Unlikely. 'Amano Yuuma' probably can't stand humans. No, She should have killed him by now, the circle should have summoned me, and Issei Hyoudou should've been my new pawn by now." Rias ranted, slapping the desk in frustration.

"Perhaps," Akeno started, "he never got the flier?"

"My familiar saw to that personally. He accepted it right before the date."

"Ah. Maybe he threw it away then?"

"I don't-" The crimson haired beauty bit her lip, then sighed. "It's... possible."

Akeno hummed in agreement. She understood her Kings frustration; it was only a year until graduation, and Rias didn't have enough pieces to fight a rating game against Riser and win. That wasn't even taking in the time needed to train up a reincarnated devil. Rias continued.

"This is... it's such a disappointment. There was so much potential for his sacred gear! I should have had Koneko-chan follow him for the date."

Akeno blinked. "Potential? I thought we didn't know what his sacred gear was..."

"Well, we don't. It's just..." Rias shrugged. "Koneko-chan reported that he smelled like a dragon."

"Ah." The black haired beauty nodded in understanding. A sacred gear with a dragon sealed within it was always valuable; even the weakest had useful abilities, not to mention the prestige of having someone linked to a dragon as a member of the peerage. Pure blooded dragons were extremely rare, especially those not reincarnated as devils, so it was no wonder that even being tangentially related to one was a symbol of status.

Akeno was torn from her thoughts by a loud groan from her King, who had put her face in her hands.

"Buchou?" The dark haired girl asked, unsure of what else could have possibly gone wrong tonight.

The crimson King remained silent for a moment, then spoke with a tone of dread.

"I have to tell Sona that I let a student die."

Akeno was torn between laughing at her King's dramatics or flinching at the idea of the Sitri heiress learning that a student in _her_ school had been killed as a result of Rias's actions. Then she realized that the entire plan had been Rias's idea.

"Fufufu."

* * *

 _ **4:00 A.M., Hyoudou Residence- Basement**_

Issei clicked his briefcase closed, setting the lock as he did so. He had finished his 'in-depth' examination of Yuuma, and had learned quite a bit, such as how her body had resisted the dose of Tetroxiden he had given her. Throughout her body, he'd found pockets of some strange white glowing... well, he was unsure what to call it, because it certainly wasn't a solid or liquid, but calling it a gas seemed wrong as well- energy perhaps? It was terribly general, but it clearly wasn't a gas. From these pockets- located in the heart, lungs, liver, kidney, and brain- the energy flowed throughout the body, entering the musculature and the bones, each of which were magnitudes tougher than a humans. It seemed as if this energy had an enriching effect on the body, burning through drugs and presumably alcohol incredibly quickly, while also making her much harder to kill; it was as if her physical body was less important to her survival, allowing her to take normally fatal injuries and keep going. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he had overestimated her endurance, as she had died during the process, turning the biopsy into an autopsy. And even worse, this meant that he would need to find a new subject.

While he was sure Yuuma's body would be useful, it was so much more efficient to experiment on a living person, to see how the body reacted to stimuli. There was also the much more pressing issue of how he would acquire another subject; he was unsure if he could count on another attempting to kill him, if only because he knew nothing of her species besides what he had found in her body.

Maybe he should have asked her a few questions first. Not that he regretted skipping right to the dissection; it'd been the first time he had ever cut open something so similar to a human, as he'd only ever worked on animals before. And before that, he'd been so entrenched in robotics and mechanical augmentation that he'd only ever cut himself open enough to have one of said robots implant his augs.

 _Oh well_ , he sighed, removing his coat and throwing it to the swivel chair in the corner of his operation room. He then exited via a steel door with his briefcase, having already stored Yuuma within his freezer room, and thus done for the night. Not that he'd be going to sleep; that was what school was for. No, Issei planned to get some work done on his latest augmentation project. This one wasn't as simple as attaching what was essentially an overclocked processor into his brain stem. Instead of something so small scale, he intended to go for an aug that affected every cell in his body; he knew what he wanted to do, he was just unsure of how to do it _and_ how to spread it throughout his body. As far as he could find, such a thing would be nearly impossible without using radiation, which brought up a whole host of problems. Still, it would be worth it to figure out.

Immortality usually was.

And then, maybe after school, he'd figure out how to find more members of Yuuma's species.

 **XXX**

 **Hello. So, this is my first fanfic, so it's probably pretty rough, but I'd appreciate it if you left a review telling me how. Be as harsh as you need to be; it can only help!**

 **As you can see, this is just a one shot, but it wasn't always. I'd originally meant for it to be a multi-chapter story following the light novels, but then I realized just how _few_ completed stories are in this fandom. I don't think it has anything to do with the overall writing skill of Highschool DxD authors, it's just... there's a _lot_ of things to cover. At the time of writing, I know of _twenty_ light novel volumes, and I for one just don't have the skill to cover that many events in a way that would let me be happy with my writing.**

 **So I cut the story down considerably. If people like this premise, I might come back to it once I have more stories under my belt.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, this is the second chapter of my one-shot. Funny how that works.**

 **XXX**

Issei stumbled up the stairs to the first floor of his home, eyes struggling to stay open. Entering a sparsely decorated hallway, the young scientist pushed himself along the wall to his bathroom, his fumbling in the dawn light the only sound within the two story house. As soon as he entered, he started lazily tugging his clothes off before stepping into the shower, leaving the door open. He clutched at one knob in a ritual he did every morning, and turned it all the way to the left.

"AHH!" Issei gasped, the freezing water shocking him into wakefulness. He immediately turned the water off and leaned his head against the wall, panting.

"Hell of a way to wake up." He grumbled, completing his morning ritual.

Eggs hissed as they hit the stove top, Issei stirring them with a spatula. Satisfied for the moment, he left them to cook as he opened the fridge and retrieved a carton of milk. Grabbing a glass, he filled it and set it on the dining room table next to a pair of chopsticks before returning to check on his eggs. After doing so, he retrieved a package of frozen sausages from the freezer, placed a few on a paper towel, and put them in the microwave. The boy returned to his eggs, turned the stove off, and gently pushed the yellow protein onto a paper plate with his spatula, at which time the microwave beeped. He added the sausage links to his plate and plodded back into the dark dining room.

Issei sat down with his plate and picked up his chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu." He said into the empty room, splitting them.

 **XXX**

Issei had never seen the point of school. Ostensibly, it was meant to educate children in preparation for their future occupations, but he wasn't able to recall ever learning anything inside a school. Nor did it seem that anyone else learned anything, if all the posturing and popularity conquests were anything to go by.

Hell, some people even had titles. Apparently a lot of people enjoyed the "big sister" type, if the "Great Oneesamas" were anything to go by.

So school lacked anything of note for Issei. Which is why he felt justified sleeping through it.

"Hyoudou-san?"

Or trying to, at any rate. Calculating that the energy expended in lifting his head from his desk was much too wasteful, Issei merely turned his head to the voice.

An extremely handsome bishounen stood before him, much to the evident shock of everyone in the room. He had a pleasant smile plastered across his face. And though it was strange for someone he'd never interacted with before to speak to him, Issei's internal clock was telling him that it was only around lunch time.

Far too early to _socialize_.

So he reburied his head in his arms. The young scientist was sure that if it were important— unlikely—it would come up again.

 **XXX**

It was a miracle, if devils were allowed those. Just before she had been about to go to Sona about her mistake with Hyoudou, she sees him walking through the main gate as if he weren't supposed to be dead. Rias had nearly jumped for joy at the sight. She didn't know how he was alive, or what had happened with the fallen angel, but he was alive! She could try again, maybe just ask him to join her peerage. It would be the first time she had ever done that, but she supposed if it was good enough for the Sitri heiress, it was good enough for her. Come lunch time, she had sent Kiba, her Knight, to fetch her future pawn.

The blond boy came back with bad news.

"He Ignored you?" Rias asked.

Kiba grimaced. "Yes, buchou. He just went back to sleep."

"I'd heard he was somewhat... independent, but to just ignore you like that..." The King shook her head.

"No matter. You and Koneko-chan will retrieve him after school." She decided, drawing confused looks from her peerage.

"Ah, buchou?" Kiba tilted his head in confusion. "Why Koneko?"

The redhead smiled mischievously. "Because she's adorable."

 **XXX**

Bored brown eyes met stoic gold. For a minute, no one spoke as the two simply stared at one another.

Issei turned to the bishounen. "She's adorable."

That childlike face, suggesting innocence, feathery white hair with a cat pin, a tiny body that one wanted to protect... it was a visage custom made to provoke the natural protective instinct within humans. Even Issei felt his hormones start pumping dopamine- literally, due to his implants- at the very sight of her, making him want to start smiling.

"How dangerous..." he said, turning back to the girl.

He could do nothing to defend against this. He couldn't control natural responses in the brain, not without modifying the chip within his brain stem to allow for hormone balancing, something he was loath to do. Though it would allow him to remain cold and logical at all times, it was at the cost of emotions. A fair trade, in his opinion, but mitigated by the fact that inspiration was rarely derived from logic.

"Hyoudou-san." The blonde boy spoke up, smile strained at catlike girl's success where he had failed. "Could you come with us? Our club president would like to meet with you."

Issei nodded, not taking his eyes off of the white haired girl as she walked next to the bishounen while he followed behind. As he did so, he let idle thoughts run their course.

Perhaps there was a way around this ancient instinct? If he thought about it logically, the feeling would cease to be. Of course, it was one thing telling himself that it was hormones, quite another to stop them. Wasn't there some technique to performing in front of crowds that would help him here? Something about imagining the crowd in their underwear. He glanced over the small girls body. While she had no breasts to speak of, what he could make out through her skirt suggested that her bottom would be pleasantly plump. He discarded the underwear technique immediately. No use getting rid of one problem for another. Maybe if he went a level deeper? If he imagined her without skin, Issei supposed his hormones would be suitably quelled.

He tried to visualize it, but found himself unable to. Strange. Back when his parents were alive, they'd always said he had an overactive imagination, so something like this should have been easy for him. Perhaps he needed a reference? As he'd learned last night, there was a big difference between anatomy books and the real thing. Tiny imperfections that weren't mentioned, disproportionately sized organs...

Maybe if he could get the small girl on his table? Issei doubted she would be okay with it, but if he got it done quick enough, she'd never know. He had his tranquilizer pistol in his uniform jacket, so he could even get it done today. After he was done meeting their president for some reason, when she was walking home. Unless she walked with friends, but the catlike girl didn't strike him as the type. Ambush her on a deserted stretch of road and shoot her full of his special drug cocktail. But how to get her to his lab without being seen? Maybe he had a suitcase at home big enough to stuff her into...

 **XXX**

Hearing a knock at the door, Rias readied herself. Standing in front of her desk, leaning forward slightly so that her cleavage was on full display, Akeno doing the same beside her, The redhead called them in.

Her Knight and Rook entered first, the latter looking somewhat uncomfortable, followed by her hopefully future peerage member. Unlike what she had expected, his gaze didn't dart around the club room in awe at its opulence, nor did it shift to stare at herself and her Queen. Instead, the teen's eyes remained glued to Koneko's back.

The crimson haired devil stifled a giggle. It seemed he was a fan of "The Mascot of Kuoh", which would explain the small girls unease.

Internally, Rias gave a sigh of relief. The reason she had been so willing to let him die before reviving him was because she had no idea what he wanted. She didn't know his dreams, desires, or fears, making it extremely difficult to offer the fabled "Offer you can't refuse". Not that she would have threatened him, it was simply that the redheaded devil felt it very important to come to a negotiation knowing what everybody wanted.

The problem being that _nobody_ knew what Issei Hyoudou wanted. He had no friends as far as she could see, and slept through all of his classes everyday for the past year. Even the teachers had given up on him. As such, his grades were awful, the worst in the school. Then, last year when exam results had been posted, he had appeared in the number one spot in almost every subject, something that _still_ rankled the Student Council President.

That had been the moment Rias decided she had to have him. She already knew he had a sacred gear, and being extremely intelligent as well? Apparent laziness aside, that was a good find. Then Koneko had told her about his dragon-like scent, and Rias almost couldn't stop herself from smugly holding it over her childhood friend.

In fact, she hadn't. The look on the Sitri heiresses face every time the boy came up... priceless.

Since questioning those in his class had turned up nothing, the Gremory heir turned to his family, only to discover that he lived alone. According to old police reports she had gotten her brother to dig up, they had gone missing years ago. She was still unsure how no one seemed to mind that a minor had lived alone since the start of middle school, but Rias had been more concerned with finding an angle on him in order to tempt him into accepting her offer.

To find that he had a crush on her Rook made things _much_ easier.

"Welcome, Hyoudou-kun. Now, I'm sure you want to know why I've..." She trailed off in her carefully prepared speech upon noticing that he was still staring at Koneko. "Hyoudou-kun?"

The boy snapped out of his daze, looking around as if just now realizing they had stopped walking. His gaze stopped on her. "Who are you?"

All eyes were on Issei as he blandly looked her over. She could sense Akeno's suppressed laughter at her side.

Rias raised an eyebrow. She was relatively sure _everybody_ in Kuoh academy knew who she was, especially the boys. Perhaps he didn't know because he was asleep all the time? But how did he know Koneko?

No, that could come later. First, introductions. "Ah, I'm sorry for assuming. This," —The redhead gestured to Akeno— "Is Akeno Himejima and I am Rias Gremory. A pleasure to meet you."

"What about these two?" He said monotonously, waving his hand at his escorts. Kiba and Koneko blinked in confusion.

"You followed us without knowing who we were?" Kiba asked, smile fading.

Issei shrugged, then pointed at Koneko. "She's adorable."

Akeno started coughing at her side when the small Nekoshou started to blush lightly. Rias's smile grew even wider.

"Yes." She agreed. "She is. And her name is Koneko Toujou."

"And the bishounen?"

The coughing grew louder, interspersed with laughter.

"His name is Kiba Yuuto." The redhead answered, amused.

This was the boy who had gotten a perfect score in the science and math exams? He was an airhead.

Oh well, all the better for her. "Now that we all know each other, why don't you take a seat? We've got a lot to go over."

Rias took a seat behind her desk while Akeno set about making tea. Koneko took her normal seat on the end of the couch, where a tray of sweets lay in front of her, and Kiba merely leaned against the wall. Issei chose to sit on the couch with Koneko, though he sat at the opposite end. When the tea was eventually distributed, the redheaded devil began.

"So, I understand you had a date yesterday."

The brown haired boy blinked dumbly.

 **XXX**

Did they know? And if they did, how? The streets had been empty when he had carried Yuuma home, so he'd been confident that no one had seen him. Perhaps they knew her? Was it possible that they were members of her species? How fortunate! Now he didn't need to go hunting for more, and best of all, he already had a plan for capturing one. Sure, his plans to kidnap the girl, Koneko, had originally just been idle thoughts that he'd never act on— probably—but now? He'd need a bigger suitcase, but the plan was otherwise perfect.

"Hyoudou-kun?" It was the redhead, Rias Gremory, a name he recognized as one of the "Great Oneesamas", though he'd never seen one in person until now. How to play this? Should he deny it? No, they clearly already knew. Lie? It was probably the smartest option, but Issei had no talent for it... Ah. He knew what to do.

"Yes. With one Yuuma Amano." Only now did he wonder if that had been her real name. Bah, it wasn't like her name mattered for anything other than the labels he would put on her organ jars.

"I see." The redhead looked confused. "Could I ask how that went? I—I understand if that's too personal, but-"

"It was quite dull until about midnight." Issei bluntly interrupted while he reached for a sweet, only for the tray to be slid away from him by a glaring Koneko.

Rias blinked at his admission. "Oh? I-I'm sorry to hear that."— She didn't look it— "What happened at midnight?"

Issei thought of how to answer that while simultaneously reaching for the sweets again.

"Well, She took off most of her clothes." This time the tray was snatched from the table and placed into the catlike girl's lap, whose smoldering glare was threatening to scald him.

His answer seemed to have stunned most of them, though the black haired girl with even bigger breasts than Rias made a noise of interest. What was her name again?

"Pervert." Koneko stated in disgust, arm carefully barring access to the tray in her possession.

"No," Issei insisted blandly, eyeing the sweets so ruthlessly denied to him, " _she's_ the one who took her clothes off. She was the pervert."

Considering the outfit she had been wearing after her clothes exploded consisted mainly of leather and chains, Yuuma had definitely been the pervert in that situation. Issei wasn't even sure that specialty shops sold clothing _that_ risque.

His logic proved ineffective against the selfish sweet lover, as she simply intensified her glare. Bishounen nodded his agreement, however.

It also seemed popular with the black haired girl whose name he couldn't remember, as she let out a teasing laugh. "Ara? Has Issei-kun been naughty?"

"Well,"—He remembered peeling back the skin of Yuuma's stomach as she screamed— "I suppose I was."

"Ah, well, I-I think that's enough of that." Rias burst in, a light flush on her face.

Issei frowned, though inwardly glad that he'd been successful in diverting her attention. "Then why'd you ask?"

"Because," Rias placed her elbows on her desk and intertwined her fingers under her chin, "we don't think she was human."

"Really." The scientist deadpanned.

"Yes. We have it on good authority that she was a being known as a fallen angel, and that the 'date' you went on was merely an attempt to kill you." The redheaded girl continued, not catching Issei's slip-up. "As for why she didn't... perhaps she had a change of heart—I don't know—but there are more of the Grigori in Kuoh, and I doubt you'll be so lucky next time."

Issei stared at her, mouth slightly agape. He had thought they were with Yuuma, but it didn't sound like it. How did they know she wasn't human, then? Or that there were more in Kuoh? Also, and far more importantly-

"Fallen angel? As in, the biblical sort? On what 'authority' can you claim that? And why the hell would they be after me?" Really, fallen angel? If Issei didn't believe in God, he wasn't about to let himself be suckered into this "allen angel" nonsense. Honestly, couldn't they have come up with something more believable? Like a harpy. Nice and simple, it didn't require that he accept an _entire religion_ as fact and that everything he'd ever known about the world was complete bullshit, and the many myths could be explained away as sightings. Hadn't these people watched _Monster Quest_? Okay, maybe not that last one; he'd had to become fluent in English to watch due to the lack of Japanese subs.

Still, Issei thought as he stopped his internal ranting, they knew Yuuma wasn't human. Maybe it's just what they call her species? Chuunibyou was ending later and later these days...

"Yes, as in a fallen angel from the bible. As for why they'd be after you, it's because you have something within your soul called a 'sacred gear', a special ability granted to some humans by God himself." Rias said, the light peeking in from the window behind her casting her into shadow. At Issei's side, Koneko stood from the couch—arms still wrapped around the tray of sweets—and turned to face him. "And it's on _our_ authority that we know this. You see, we-"

The redhead herself also stood up.

"Are devils." Black, spindly, almost cartoonish bat wings sprung from her back. Looking around, the young scientist saw the same wings protruding from the backs of everyone else in the room, the only differences being size.

His right hand twitched, fingers lovingly caressing an imaginary scalpel.

So many subjects! And of a different breed as well! If they wanted to call themselves devils, well, who was he to argue with them? It'd certainly make sorting their organs easier. He could see it now: an entire freezer divided by species, devils, fallen angels- wait, did that mean there were normal angels as well? What a fool he'd been to think that humans were the only sapient species inhabiting Earth. The world was so much larger than that! So much more to do!

As the sluggishness that had been creeping into his veins ever since he'd reached the peak of robotic engineering receded at this _wonderful_ news, Issei felt himself start to do something he hadn't done for very a long time.

He began to laugh. Deep, from the belly, so much that his eyes started to water, so much that he clutched at his sides.

The others in the room stepped back instinctively. That laugh, so happy and light, yet it held something more, some darkness that they—so young—couldn't hope to comprehend.

Eventually, his laughter died down to the occasional chuckle, and he stood from his seat. Koneko shuffled away, her instincts screaming at her to move. The scientist walked to the door unaccosted, opened it, but stopped at the threshold.

"Thanks," He turned his head, smiling at them. If the flinches he saw were any indication, he was showing too many teeth, but he didn't care, because- "I really needed that."

The scientist closed the door behind him.

 **XXX**

 **The story will be continuing despite not having completed _any_ other fanfics, which only goes to show you that all I _really_ needed was a few reviews to boost my ego. Worship me.**

 **Anyway, something that really helped me decide was Darkhero252's advice. I plan to continue this until the Excalibur arc is concluded, at which point there will be a break that lasts as long as it takes me to reread every book after the third volume.**

 **And yes, I have read "In The Mind of a Scientist" and its sequels by ZenoNoKyuubi. If anybody reading this _hasn't,_ please do so now.**

 **Now for translation notes and references!**

 **Itadakimasu means, in this context, "Let's eat". It's almost the eastern equivalent to praying before a meal, except it's more about being polite. To be honest, I was torn between this and just writing "Let's eat" in english, so please tell me what you prefer.**

 **For those of you that don't know, "Monster Quest" was a show that approached various mythical creatures, such as bigfoot and loch ness, like it was doing a documentary on them, detailing their origins and and famous sightings. It was something I loved as kid, so I figured I'd just add it in. Of course, there is another reason...**

 **Lastly, Chuunibyou is also known as "8th grader syndrome", and is characterized by an overactive imagination and the tendency to name things in incredibly dramatic terms.**

 **As always, read and review! Be as scathing as you want, it can only help. Also, my masochism demands it.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I really should maintain these things."

Issei sat hunched over a workbench, hands busy reassembling the last of his Jackal units. Constructed from a base of stainless steel with lightweight carbon plating, the sleek robots only vaguely resembled what they were named after, the sharp edges and concrete gray finish making it clear that there was nothing organic about them. Standing roughly two feet off the ground, they looked more like toys than the high tech bipedal platform they actually were. Their main purpose was scouting, being light, agile, and outfitted with a high shutter speed focused camera protected by a thick tinted plastic case as a head.

They were also one of the more embarrassing platforms Issei had created over the years, in both name and purpose.

Issei was a scientist. He belonged in a lab, running experiments and making breathtaking discoveries that he would then hoard within his basement. The idea that he would be involved in any sort of conflict other than a philosophical one was laughable. The Issei of today accepted this, and even preferred it. As such, he had no business having _one_ scouting machine, let alone _six_.

The Issei of middle school—a boy afflicted with a _slight_ case of Chuunibyou—disagreed quite strongly. To him, it was only a matter of time until the government found out about his genius and sent an elite task force to bring him in. They would then force him to build a bipedal nuclear weapons platform, which would _inevitably_ be stolen by a madman, possibly a clone. In order to prevent such a situation, middle school Issei had devised numerous weapons and machines of dubious—but admittedly cool—efficiency.

The Jackals were one such creation, created to track down and survey targets in all terrains. Made with a revolutionary shifting frame, a Jackal unit had a greater degree of movement than any natural canine and a highly advanced AI capable of navigating numerous areas without drawing attention to itself.

They were also proof that genius did _not_ equal maturity. As such, Issei had been ignoring them for quite a while, hence their need of repair.

Still, he'd finally found a use for them in tracking down fallen angels. They were small and nonthreatening, so normal civilians would be unlikely to do more than gawk at them, while being able to accelerate faster than a cheetah and leap at least a dozen meters in a single bound, making them extremely hard to hit. Which was good, considering that one good hit from a fallen angel—or devil, if they shared any similarities— would be enough to destroy them. Being lightweight meant sacrificing defense.

Of course, Issei couldn't just send them out into Kuoh to look for fallen. Except for their wings, which weren't visible at all times, the creatures were indistinguishable from humans. So, he'd spent a week outfitting each Jackal with a small amount of Holy power, courtesy of Yuuma. He'd done extensive testing, and had found that the substance had a subtle reaction when in the presence of more Holy power. After this discovery, the scientist went to work in both building a device to safely contain it at high speeds while also signaling when a reaction was occurring, and modifying the Jackals to allow them to be equipped with the module.

In total, it'd taken him about a week to make the necessary adjustments. Longer than he liked, but considering half of it had been spent creating a device to both scan and measure the reactions of a substance that was 'supernatural' in origin, the scientist's injured pride was somewhat mollified.

"And done." Issei muttered absentmindedly while he stood up, tucking the Jackal under his arm. He walked over to a line of Jackals, placed the one he carried with them, and pulled a phone from the pocket of his lab coat. The scientist fiddled with the touch screen for a few minutes before concluding with a jab of his forefinger.

A low hum emanated from the row of Jackals, their otherwise darkened visors lighting up red. The mechanical canines looked up to Issei as one.

"Right. This way." The scientist said blandly, turning on his heel and making his way up the stairs.

The Jackals obediently followed, their metal frames lithely edging at his heels in a motion so fluid that it was reminiscent of a jungle cat stalking across the forest floor. The image was somewhat ruined by the way they eagerly looked up at him like litter of puppies begging to play outside.

Middle school Issei had a lot to answer for.

Upon arriving at the front door of his home, Issei held it open and turned back to his energetic followers.

"You know what to do."

The Jackals stared at him, completely still. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the scientist sighed in exasperation.

"... Go on the hunt." He said the command execution key, causing the mechanical canines to rush out the door, spreading out in separate directions.

So much to answer for.

Closing the door, Issei made his way to the dining room, sat at the head of the table—pulling out his phone to check that the GPS transmitters in the Jackals were working—and let his mind drift.

The Jackals would take care of finding the fallen, and once that was done the scientist could collect them at his leisure. Preferably one at a time, by surprise. While he _did_ have some weapons that might be effective against what amounted to flying super humans, Issei had no way of inconspicuously carrying them. And even _if_ he found a workaround, there was also the fact that the teen was a scientist, not a warrior. He had neither the talent nor the inclination to be anything else. Which meant that in a battle between himself and presumably hardened supernatural fighters, the scientist was at a clear disadvantage no matter what he did due to his lack of experience. So yes, ambush worked nicely.

Now that the fallen were taken care of, Issei turned his thoughts to the coven of devils at his school. One at a time wouldn't work, as sooner or later they would begin to suspect him, especially considering his reaction to learning of their existence. Perhaps some sort of sleeping gas? He'd have to get his hands on one to make sure it worked, but that had possibilities. Rig a gas bomb in their club room and wait for all of them to be present...

Then he'd be able to interrogate them about this 'Sacred Gear' the scientist apparently possessed within his soul, or whatever they called a soul. Issei was somewhat skeptical of the existence of the soul, but he was willing to believe that there was an energy that modern science couldn't yet detect.

Which brought him to another problem. If there were devils, and there were fallen angels—which presumably meant there were 'normal' angels—did that mean that Christianity was correct? That there really _was_ an all powerful, all knowing God? Or was it simply a role their species' had taken on as their own over the course of history? It was common enough among human society; kings possessing the blood of God, emperors who _were_ God...

It made authority seem more powerful and legitimate, reducing the risk of an uprising. If the leaders of these species—assuming they had a sort of government underneath human government—had heard the stories from Christianity and figured they fit the definition well enough, it could do a lot to solidify their positions. And as the centuries pass and the leaders died, it would become fact for that species.

Or perhaps humans had gotten it wrong in the first place? Maybe Christianity was like one of those movies that were 'based on real events', except it was incredibly exaggerated? He could see that, even more than the other explanation. Humans placed religious significance on natural events like the sun dawning and setting, so it would be understandable that if they encountered beings that were, stronger, faster, and above all had _wings—_ flying being one of the most sought after abilities since humans began to think—humans would at the very least include them in religion as some sort of god-like being. That seemed to be the most logical conclusion. Humans based quite a few mythical creatures on already existing animals. It wouldn't be new.

Issei blinked, then slowly brought his hand to his face, working his jaw.

Or maybe it would? He'd have to look into this...

Looks like he wouldn't be sleeping while the Jackals were hunting like he'd originally planned. Which was a shame, as It'd been a long time since he'd last slept, about—

 **XXX**

—One week. It had been one week since Issei Hyoudou had come to school.

After the boy had walked out of the ORC room, laughing, Rias told herself that she hadn't stopped him because he clearly thought they were joking and she wanted to give him time to take it all in. When he hadn't come to school the next day, the redheaded devil told herself that his view of the world had just been fractured and that she wanted to let him sort out his beliefs. And when he hadn't shown up the day after that, Rias knew something was wrong, but told herself to wait. That she was too busy looking for the base of operations that the Grigori were using in Kuoh, that it was in his best interest that she remove the fallen from the equation first.

Then a week had passed, she had found but was unable to touch the fallen in _her_ city if she didn't want to rekindle the great war, and Issei Hyoudou still hadn't come to school. Her heart hurt as she considered what might have happened, not only out of her desire to have him as her pawn, but also out of genuine worry. Absentminded as he had been, he'd grown on her during their conversation. Laid back, blunt, and clueless was surprisingly things she found endearing. It was just... the way he'd laughed...

Rias knew that even now— _a week later_ — she would have found some reason to put off checking on him if not for the immensely displeased Student Council President standing in front of her desk.

"Rias," Sona adjusted her glasses, disturbing her short black bob cut slightly "where is Issei Hyoudou?"

The Gremory heiress swallowed nervously.

"You're telling me," The stern devil said, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger, "that _not only_ did you try to have a student under _my_ protection killed, just because you didn't want him rejecting your offer, you then revealed the existence of the supernatural to him and _let him leave_. And then, when he disappears from school, you chose to _ignore_ that in favor of finding where the fallen angels are based out of, something you _should_ have done the moment you were aware of their existence! Rias, I-"

"It's not like that!" Rias growled, standing from her seat so that she and Sona were eye to eye.

The Sitri heiress narrowed his eyes, frowning at the interruption of her rant. "How? Because it certainly seems like it."

"For one," The redheaded devil crossed her arms and lifted her chin defiantly. "I didn't try to kill Issei."

Rias had no clue where her childhood friend had gotten this from. Kill Issei? She would never kill _any_ human, let alone someone she wanted in her own peerage. To the Gremory, a peerage was more than just a bunch of servants. They were family.

And even if the she didn't want him in her peerage, the idea of _her_ killing a human was ridiculous. Not only was it against the Underworld's laws, the Gremory family was known for their pro human stance, one that the heiress supported wholeheartedly.

Sona huffed in disbelief, crossing her arms as well. "Rias, knowing a murder is about to happen and doing _nothing_ is just as bad as killing him yourself!"

Rias opened her mouth, then clicked her mouth shut with an audible click. Did it really look like that?

A cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

"I... I was going to revive him..." The redhead frowned, not meeting her friend's eyes.

"And that makes it any better?"

Rias shrunk in on herself. No, it didn't. But she was beginning to get angry now; where did the Sitri heiress get off lecturing her? Maybe she'd made mistakes, but Sona didn't need to keep rubbing it in her face.

"What do you care? You don't even like him!" She snapped.

Sona's face darkened and her eyes flashed. "He's one of my students! I don't care if he treats his education like a joke, Hell, I wouldn't care if he was a serial killer! _No one_ touches _my_ students."

Rias gaped at her friend in shock. She hadn't seen the Sitri heiress this angry in _years_. Sure, they occasionally fought, but the most Sona had ever done was glare and be passive aggressive. That she was this angry, even for someone that she didn't like...

Had she really done something that bad? Sona's unnatural possessiveness for her students aside, that she was getting so worked up over it...

Rias sank into her seat, eyes downcast.

Sona closed her eyes, sighing. "What were you thinking? I—I understand the Riser situation's been weighing on you, but this— there are no excuses for this."

"I..." The redheaded girl shrunk in on herself even more. "I was desperate. I—I hate him so much! I don't want to be..."

She swallowed a sob. "I won't be married to that man."

Rias stiffened when an arm encircled her, but relaxed when she realized that Sona had embraced her.

"Rias, I... I understand how you feel. I was in the same place not too long ago, but..." The Sitri heiress gently squeezed the panicked King. "But you can't let it get to you like this. Don't let him destroy you. Be calm and decisive, just like in chess. Remember? You need to consider all the options and their consequences, or you'll never win."

It was something they'd always laughed at. In an attempt to beat Sona back when Rias hadn't been as experienced in chess, the Gremory heiress had found a book on the subject. She could no longer remember what else was in the book, but the laughably unhelpful foreword had always stayed in her mind.

'Consider all the options and their consequences, and the game is won.' She'd giggled until her sides hurt, as had Sona upon seeing it, if not as hard. The advice was vague and held no instructions on how to actually _do_ that, along with the fact that it disregarded the majority of the game itself.

It was the same as saying that the best way to win a race was to be in first.

Rias chuckled despite herself, the old phrase having become something they'd say to each other in jest. However, while it was terrible advice to give to a beginning player, it worked as an excellent warning to those more skilled. It reminded them that it was impossible to plan for ever move, that one should be flexible when making a strategy.

The Gremory heiress lightly pushed her childhood friend off her, wiping unshed tears from her eyes. "Thanks. I really needed that."

Rias paused. Why was that so familiar? It shouldn't have been. A phrase like that, so deeply personal, was rarely heard aloud. It had come naturally to Rias, a way of expressing her gratitude for being pulled out of the pit of despair she had been so slowly—unknowingly—falling deeper and deeper into due to her impending marriage. It wasn't something that should be familiar to-

" _Thanks," He turned back to face her, smiling. But it was no ordinary smile—too many teeth, a wild look in his eye, the savageness of it all— and she, along with her peerage, flinched at the sight of it, "I really needed that."_

The crimson haired devil sprung to her feet, chair clattering to the ground behind her as a look of stark realization came over her. She could hear Sona crying out in alarm, but the words failed to penetrate her focus.

 _He began to laugh, and Rias had to step back. It was deep, from the belly, but there was something dark in it, something that made her insides squirm._

When Sona had cheered her up with that stupid saying, hadn't she laughed? She'd been so deep into her despair that she hadn't even contemplated doing something as benign as laughing. But she had, because the phrase had reminded her, had shown her that the world wasn't so bleak after all. She'd just been so relieved that it had burst out.

Her heart started beating uncomfortably loud in her chest. "Sona, we need to go to Issei's house now!"

"What? Are you okay? Why do we need to-"

"Remember! Remember when I said he laughed at us, that he didn't believe us?" She breathed out, almost hyperventilating. Why was she panicking? So Issei was in a pit as well, which was sad, but why did it make her adrenaline start pumping? What had her subconscious realized that she hadn't?

"Wha—yes, but what's that have to do with anything?" Sona answered, her eyes wide with worry and confusion behind her red framed glasses.

Rias swallowed dryly.

"I think he believed us."

 **XXX**

Issei was torn from his laptop when his phone beeped an alert. He'd been looking up various mythical creatures, studying their origins and supposed sightings.

Picking it up, the scientist read that one of his Jackals had been destroyed. He quickly tracked it's GPS transmitter, then loaded up any pictures it had taken. It was a feature he'd made to make up for his lack of video recording. When a Jackal thought that there was even the slightest potential of it being destroyed, it started to take pictures, presumably of its' attacker. As for why he'd forgone video recording, it took far too much time to go through what could be a few hour mission, especially for six different feeds.

As he scrolled through the pictures, the teen expected to see the image of a fallen angel. It was, after all, what the Jackals had been sent after. In other words he expected to see what looked like a human, presumably mid-attack.

What he got only looked human from the waist up. Long black hair, large—very naked—breasts, and a toned stomach lay attached to a huge, beastly body with four legs, each clawed. It stood in the center of what seemed to be a warehouse, clutching at her breasts.

"Huh." Perhaps he'd been hasty when he'd assumed that fallen angels were similar to humans.

Well, he had a few options here. He could stay here and wait for the other Jackals to report in, or he could go to the destroyed units' GPS, fetch the remains of his extremely valuable bipedal robot, and perform a dissection in the field. The only reason Issei considered the latter was that the fallen, looking like a carnivorous centaur, was likely confined to the warehouse for fear of being hunted down by the Self Defense Force. She would also likely be gone come nightfall, and chances of finding her again were slim at best, especially if he didn't want his very _expensive_ robots destroyed.

It was clear what the correct choice was. Checking to make sure he had his tranquilizer pistol in his lab coat, Issei went into his lab to retrieve his dissection kit, a small black bag. Doing so, he paused as he was about to go up the staircase. Could he really rely on his drug cocktail? It had only worked on Yuuma for a few hours, and she was relatively small. With so much more mass, the chances of his drug shutting off the fallen were unlikely, especially considering effect Holy power had on drugs.

Casting his gaze around the cluttered workshop where he kept his mechanical projects, the scientist's eyes fell on a large tan tarp at the back of the room, the object it covered being roughly the height of a motorcycle and twice as wide. He immediately discarded it as an option, as it would be far too big to go across town without causing a panic.

The fact that it had been made at the height of his Chuunibyou and therefore had a few 'quirks' also played heavily in the decision.

Then Issei saw a stainless steel instrument carrying case, four feet long and one and a half feet wide. The scientist narrowed his eyes, brown orbs lost in thought. It had been one of the ways he had planned on inconspicuously transporting the various chemicals he occasionally need to purchase, though he had eventually settled on the more flexible knapsack. He could use that, but with what? It wasn't like he had much in the way of firearms, and if his theory on the nature of Holy power was correct—That it made physical damage less important—not even a gun would have helped much.

His eyes fell on the objects hanging on the wall at the other end of the room.

Issei—still in his lab coat— stood yawning before a large warehouse with a small black bag strapped over one shoulder and a large, stainless steel instrument case in his hand. This was where the signal had lead him; into the factory district of Kuoh, a place without heavy foot traffic during the day and none at all during the night. A good location for a monster centaur lady to live. Few enough people in the day that nobody would randomly venture into the warehouse, and nobody at night, allowing her to move as she willed.

A dilemma the scientist hadn't considered was how he would get into the building. The large gate was closed, and the door next to it was locked. His Jackal must have gotten in through a window. Issei felt like slamming his head into the wall, annoyed at his stupidity, but refrained. Instead, he walked around to the side of the warehouse to check for any other entryways.

He found one in the form of a gaping hole in the wall. It was strange, though. Instead of the hole being torn open by the subject's claws, the damage was inconsistent, looking more like a fire had burnt through it. Or some type of corrosive acid. Yes, the dripping effect on the metal... definitely acid.

The question was, where did a fallen angel keep acid?

With cautious footsteps, Issei entered through the gap.

It was dark within the warehouse, though not so dark that he couldn't see thanks to the skylights allowing the sun to shine down. There, in the center of the of the light, was the remains of his Jackal, melting in a puddle of pink liquid.

"Oh, what's this? A little boy entering my lair? And you smell delicious!" The fallen emerged from the shadows, breasts in full display. She was larger than he'd thought, about twelve feet tall and at least a thousand pounds.

Issei pulled his recorder out of his coat pocket, his other hand laying the instrument case on the ground before him. "Subject appears to have a heightened sense of smell. Diet most likely consists of humans."

He wasn't going to waste time. Best to begin the dissection right away so that he'd be home by nightfall. The lack of sleep was really getting to him.

With a laugh, the monster charged at him.

Issei undid the latch of the case.

When he'd first created the implant that currently resided within his head, it had been for a very specific purpose. Over time, several features such as the time, date, and the equivalent of google maps were added in, but the original function remained, to increase his processing capabilities. What this essentially meant was that he was able to multitask and perform complex calculations much better and faster than a normal human. It was a very useful augmentation of great utility.

However, Issei had made it while he was still in middle school and under the effects of Chuunibyou, meaning that it's usefulness was entirely secondary. No, the real reason he had developed the implant—the reason he needed _inhuman_ multitasking— had been so that he could use one very specific weapon. A weapon that, like everything he made in middle school, was embarrassing to use, though for different reasons than the Jackals or the machine under the tarp.

White plates as long as his forearm and as thick as his wrist shot out of the case, lining up behind him and hovering at head height, seven in total. They were rectangular, narrowing as they reached an opening on the bottom. As one, each plate turned so that the opening faced the incoming creature.

Middle school Issei had watched too much Gundam.

"This will burn a bit, but you should live long enough for me to take you apart." Issei said nonchalantly, his Fin Funnels firing.

For a single instant, the image of seven crimson beams piercing the fallen through her nonhuman body lit up the warehouse.

A half ton of monster crashed into the ground, sliding to his feet. Issei yawned again; he really needed to stop pulling all nighters.

"Side note: lasers are an effective weapon, rendering enemy speed useless." The scientist said into his recorder. This solved his problem of fighting head on, he realized. Moving at he speed of light, once a beam was fired there was no way to avoid it. All he had to do was aim, which was child's play thanks to his implant.

Still he'd prefer to avoid battle if possible. Even as short as it was, the confrontation with the beast had almost made him lose control, which was _extremely_ dangerous. The urge to just _cut_ and _slice_ had almost been overpowering, and he doubted he would have stopped with the fallen before him.

The monstrous form in front of him twitched.

Only the fact that middle school Issei had been obsessed with giving his machines some sort of personality saved his life. One fin had, of it's own accord, shoved him backwards upon seeing him in danger. Hard.

Flying through the air, air knocked out of his lungs, the scientist didn't have time to think about landing on his feet.

A gentle presence at his back assured him that he didn't need to, another fin slowing him down enough to softly touch down on his feet.

The woman roared in pain and rage while he wheezed and rubbed his chest soothingly. "You pathetic little _human_! I'm going to enjoy seeing you melt!"

The fallen lifted her hands to her chest, clutching at her breasts. She then squeezed them, causing red pentacles to form in mid air in front of her nipples. From the pentacles, a pink liquid was shot out at high speed.

Fins pinning his sides, they lifted him out of the way while he stared uncomprehendingly, the acid just missing him. They set him down away from the bubbling liquid and returned to their positions behind him.

...

With a shaking hand, Issei brought his recorder to his mouth. "Subject... subject has the ability to shoot acid from her nipples."

The scientist had no words. Or rather, he had too many. First off, what the fuck. Did he really just see a half woman thing _squeeze her breasts_ to shoot acid out of a spontaneously appearing pentacle? And about pentacle, what was that about? If he was going by Christianity, then pentacles were the domain of devils and... magic. Was magic real? Wait, wasn't this thing a fallen angel? His Jackal had been looking for Holy power, so it had to be, but...

Shoving his thoughts into a steel box, Issei focused on the monster before him. There was no time to deal with these questions, at least not until the battle was over...

"Oho! The little boy can dodge!" The thing said, preparing to squeeze once more.

Determining that trying for a live capture was too dangerous, Issei decided to end it before he was damaged irreparably.

The warehouse flared red once more.

Left arm. Right foreleg. Heart. Both breasts. Right arm. Brain.

Seven fins, seven lasers, seven targets. In an instant, the majority of the monster disappeared in bloody chunks, leaving behind a charred corpse.

Issei sighed in relief. His first real fight hadn't gone as easily as he'd hoped, but it was over now. His fins hovered protectively in front of him, ready to defend him. Observing them for a moment, the teen—for the first time—felt glad his old self had wanted semi-aware machines, as the function had saved his life twice within the last minute.

The idea had been implemented to ease the burden on the user. The fins were programmed to protect the user at all costs, but wouldn't attack enemies for fear of friendly fire. It was up to the user to enact offensive maneuvers with the fins.

Of course, that was simply the excuse he'd used. The real reason had been to give them a friendly and mothering personality, something the lonely middle school-er had missed with the passing of his parents.

That was the problem with his Chuunibyou days; every good thing he developed had been unintended at best.

Dropping the somewhat upsetting thought, the scientist cautiously approached the heap of super heated flesh. When it did nothing, he began to circle the body. There, on its back, was what he had begun to suspect.

In appearance, it seemed that the only things visibly distinguished a devil from a fallen were the wings. It was likely the case with angels as well. The pentacles had clued him in to two things. One, that magic—or at least an energy that magic may have been based off of—existed. Two, there was no way something that used pentacles was any form of angel, fallen or not. So Issei had to check to make sure.

On its back lay a pair of bat-like wings, shriveled and deformed. He'd been right. The scientist had no idea why his Jackal—more specifically, the Holy power within it—had reacted to a devil but that would be remedied in short order. His fingers were already itching in anticipation. Pulling the bag off of his shoulder, Issei brought his recorder to his mouth once more.

"Beginning dissection. Subject is dead, having been killed by the capture procedure..."

 **XXX**

Two stories, small yard. A house just like the others that surrounded it. And Issei Hyoudou lived here. It didn't fit, Rias decided. The house was much too plain to be the residence of that blunt, air headed boy.

"I understand checking up on him, but don't you think breaking into his home is a bit much?" Sona said, standing on the doorstep next to her. The short haired girl was, like herself, still wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform.

Rias shook her head at her friends reluctance. "No, actually. He hasn't been to school in a _week_. Who knows what could have happened to him?"

"But breaking and entering?" The Sitri heiress protested.

Rias sighed. _This_ was definitely the Sona she knew, disciplined with a strong respect for the rules. Too bad it was the wrong place for such respect. It was fortunate that Rias had a trump card prepared.

"And what if he's in danger?" Rias shot back. "Are you going to let one of _your_ students get hurt?"

The glasses wearing girl grimaced, shooting a glare at the redhead but saying nothing. Satisfied that they were on the same page, the Gremory heiress unlocked the door with a bit of devil magic and entered.

After searching the house, Rias only had one thing to say about it.

Nobody lived here. No pictures, no mess, no _furniture_. Just empty rooms and dust. The only thing that suggested that someone had been here was the fact that the kitchen was stocked with food and cooking supplies. This place wasn't livable.

"Did we get the address wrong?" Rias asked, hand on her chin.

It was... unlikely, to say the least, but with the way things looked? It was obvious that nobody had lived in the house for a long time. The food in the Kitchen remained a mystery, but food was not the only thing humans needed to live.

Her friend pursed her lips. "No, this is the address listed with the school."

Rias rubbed her temple with her thumb and forefinger. What was going on here? First she starts to panic just because she realized that something was wrong with Issei, and now the school _her parents_ run has an empty house as the residence of a student?

"But... I found something. Something strange."

The redheaded devil raised an eyebrow at her friends wording. Something strange? The entire situation was downright bizarre, and Sona says something is strange? She had to see this for herself.

"Strange how?"

Sona lead Rias to an empty hallway and pointed to a closed door at the end of it.

Ah.

The door was nothing special, the same as the rest of the house. What _was_ special, on the other hand, was the fact that it was locked by a high tech fingerprint scanner, the type she'd only seen in light novels or American movies. Sleek and white, it blended almost perfectly with the paint of the wall, explaining why Rias had missed it on her earlier search of the house.

"That's suspicious. Why would someone lock a door so heavily?" Rias mused.

"I can only assume it's to keep people from opening it." Sona deadpanned, earning a glare from the Gremory heiress.

Still, it was incredibly suspicious. Rias could only assume that what they were looking for—whatever that _was_ —had to be behind this door. The lock was too advanced for Sona's magic to work on it, so the redhead performed a bit of her own, disintegrating the door with a crimson orb of destruction.

"Really?" The Sitri heiress looked at her, unimpressed with her destructive method. She ignored her, promising to herself that she'd pay for a replacement later.

Trudging down the stairs, the pair reached a second door, which was handled the same as the first. They then stepped out into the basement, stopping in shock.

It was clearly some sort of workshop, filled with metal things and tools that the girls had no names for. Various equipment and parts that were unfamiliar, though that may have had more to do with the pair's lack of knowledge regarding the area. A large portion of wall was covered by a tool display cart that held every tool imaginable, and the opposite wall had several benches covered in electronics. In fact, it almost looked like an auto repair shop. The biggest difference between this room and the rest of the house, however, was that someone definitely lived here, if the cup of coffee on one of the desks was anything to go by.

"So... what is this place?" Rias asked, peering at all the strange objects around the room.

Sona crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Some sort of mechanical shop. Strange, but not worth hiding behind two locked doors."

Humming an agreement, the redheaded devil began to explore the room. She got the feeling that some of the items in this room were familiar...

Upon seeing a white circular rod the length of a pen, realization struck. "That's a beam saber from Gundam!"

"First of all, I think you meant a lightsaber from Star Wars, and second, so what? Being a fan isn't a crime."

Rias—only ignoring Sona's blasphemous comment with great difficulty—picked up the _beam saber from Gundam_ and pressed a button on the bottom of it.

A red beam appeared from the end of the rod, almost making her drop it in shock. The redhead gaped at the futuristic blade in shock then looked back at her friend—who was gaping like a fish—and back to the beam saber. The basement was silent for a time, the only noise being the gentle hum of the blade.

 **XXX**

Walking down the street in the evening light with a bag around his shoulder, a large, _heavy,_ instrument case, and wheeling a recently bought ice cooler containing his latest samples wasn't the hardest thing Issei had ever done. He had—for example—performed surgery on himself. The fact that the people around him only took pictures of the 'weird doctor' and did nothing to help only agitated him further.

Of course, it wasn't all that bad. He'd learned a lot from the autopsy of the non humanoid devil, like the fact that the energy found within devils _greatly_ _agitated_ Holy power, which had confused his Jackal into thinking it was more Holy energy. He'd have to modify the modules he'd installed on the remaining units so that it didn't happen again, but at least it was a problem he couldn't have predicted instead of some carelessness in design.

As he lugged his burden to the door of his house, Issei thought of the other discoveries he'd made, and what this meant for his plans going forward. It would take a little while longer to hunt down the remaining fallen in the city, but-

Wait, had he left his door unlocked? It was something he usually did without thinking, but that meant he couldn't remember doing it. While it was unlike him to be so careless, Issei supposed it had been an emergency situation, making it understandable if he'd forgotten a few things. Oh well. Even if someone _had_ come in while the scientist was out in the field, they'd never be able to get into his workshop and lab, not without busting down the door.

Entering his home awkwardly thanks to the many containers he was juggling, Issei called out his usual greeting.

"I'm home." It was something that had been ingrained in him by his parents, a habit he did without thinking—much like locking the door, he supposed—so he hadn't expected a reply.

"Welcome back."

Freezing in place, the scientist slowly turned to face the voice, keeping the door open in case he needed to run. In front of him were two girls, of which he recognized one; Rias Gremory, the devil he had met last week. With long crimson hair, a heart shaped face, kind green eyes, and the kind of body most women would kill for, she made for quite the sight inside the emptiness of his home. The other girl was no slouch herself, with short black hair, red framed glasses, and striking violet eyes, she was the picture of the stern class president type.

And neither of them should have been in his house.

Rias smiled at him in excitement. "Look what we found, Issei-kun!"

She held up a white rod about the size of a pen.

 _They'd been in his workshop._

"I knew you were smart, but I had no idea you were _this_ smart." She was still smiling excitedly at him, though her black haired friend stared at him with an evaluating expression.

Then the redhead's eyes softened. "And it's okay. You don't have to hide it anymore."

What?! Not hi—the law wouldn't be very understanding of his nature as a less _moral_ scientist. Issei's eyes narrowed.

"Hide?" He very carefully kept his tone casual while considering the options. He doubted he'd be able to outrun the girl—who possessed supernatural strength and speed—but maybe if he could open the instrument case... "Hide what? And what are you doing in my house?"

"O—oh, I'm sorry about that. We were just so worried when you disappeared from school that we thought something terrible had happened to you, like a fallen attacked you"—He wished—"that we had to check on you. I'm sorry for entering your home without your permission."

She bowed in contrition, as did the other girl.

"I'm also sorry about destroying the doors to your basement, but we thought that a clue might be down there..." Rias trialed off.

His doors? Destroyed? The two doors that possessed a thin layer of wood over a solid steel core? What?

"Anyway, we saw what you had in your basement." the redheaded devil said with a knowing smile.

Ah. So they knew about Yuuma. But that actually left more questions than answers: why were they being so nice to him? They knew that he had killed and dissected a woman, but they didn't care? Perhaps the way that Holy power reacted to devil energy said quite a bit about the state of affairs between the species...

Rias gazed into his eyes, a level of interest there that—quite frankly—made him uncomfortable. "To be such a brilliant engineer so young!"

… What?

Sensing his confusion, the devil once again held up the beam saber he'd made years ago. "You made this, right?"

He nodded hesitantly.

"This is incredible! I can understand why you'd be so scared of somebody finding out—the things people could do with this kind of technology—but you don't have to hide it anymore, at least not from us."

Issei blinked at them. Had they not found it? Granted, the door was behind his display case, but all one had to do was push it to the side. It had wheels, after all. Scrambling to come up with a response to her enthusiasm, the scientist said the first thing that came to mind.

"Y—you got me. It'll be a relief not having to hide _that_ anymore."

 **XXX**

 **Well, that's done. This chapter had to be rewritten twice, so I hope the end product is good.**

 **And I've decided to remove the horror tag. It was appropriate as a one shot, but as a multi-chap it doesn't quite work. That isn't to say there _won't_ be moments that match the mood of the first chapter, it's just that there won't be enough in between all of the other things.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's the next chapter. Also, here is the explanation for why his alarm didn't go off, which is totally something I didn't completely forget about until it was mentioned in reviews.**

 **XXX**

In the dark basement of an abandoned church, a white haired boy lazily watched the fallen argue in front of him. He sat on a pew wearing the robes of a priest, but his his eyes spoke of nothing holy.

"How do we use it?!" A small blonde girl attired in a Gothic Lolita dress asked, waving her arms in frustration. She was Mittelt. The person she was speaking to, a tall buxom woman with dark blue hair. She wore a purple trench coat-like top with a matching miniskirt. Her name was Kalawarner.

"How should I know? Raynare's the only one who even knew what it was until now." The woman said, fiddling with a button on her top as if pondering whether or not her breasts should be even _more_ exposed than they already were. "All we know now is that it can transfer Sacred Gears."

The item they were talking about was a cross that stood on the platform above them. It was a sleek metal, with green lines of energy running through it. Freed sighed as he looked at it. A device to transfer Sacred Gears, even to non humans. The fact that it even existed spoke of the genius of the leader of the Grigori, Azazel. And he considered it a failure? The former priest couldn't believe it. As many devils as he had killed, as many scum contractors of devils he had tortured, he could have done _much_ more if he had a Sacred Gear.

Unfortunately, he had to make due as a normal human among inhuman forces. Hell, the urge to kill the fallen in front of him was almost overpowering. Only the fact that they were what let him roam free in the devil-ran city without repercussion was what stopped him. It certainly wasn't the threats of death the fallen frequently used.

He may have been kicked out of the exorcists, but he had been one of the best, as much as one without a Sacred Gear or super special holy sword _could_ be. Now that Raynare was gone, the remaining fallen posed almost no threat to him, though if the way they lorded over him was anything to go by, the fallen didn't know that. And while the temptation to kill them or have his way with them—or both, if he was feeling frisky enough—Freed controlled himself, if only just. It was the way people like him survived, by keeping a leash on their darker desires until the right time to let loose presented itself. The former priest wasn't very good at that—his excommunication from the church was proof of that—he was good enough to, if not hide, then not act on his desires.

"We need to find Raynare. That's the only way." A tall man in a trench coat interrupted both Freed's thoughts and the argument among the fallen in front of him. He was Dohnaseek, the leader of the group in Kuoh since the disappearance of Raynare.

The Raynare situation interested Freed. A week ago, she had gone to kill a nearby Sacred Gear holder, one that was unaware of the supernatural world. She'd never come back. The other fallen were convinced she had cut and ran, betraying them. Why else wouldn't she have come back, after all? The former priest wasn't so sure. The bitch had been obsessed with completing whatever mission she had been given in Kuoh, so her running didn't sit right in his gut. And after surviving countless exorcisms against creature that were stronger, faster, and quite often smarter than he was, Freed had learned to trust his gut.

"And how do you expect us to do that? We're not detectives, Dohnaseek." Kalawarner said, crossing her arms under her breasts.

So no, Raynare hadn't run away, hadn't given up on the mission. Which could only mean that she was dead. The former exorcist was willing to bet the human she had gone to kill had been the one to do it. Oh, how he wished he could have seen her face when a _human_ killed her. Though, Freed wished he could find out how the Sacred Gear user had done it. Had the guy managed to activate it in the panic of someone trying to kill him?

"No, but we can act like it. We'll interrogate the last person who saw her and work from there."

Freed perked up at that. Looked like he would get to find out after all.

 **XXX**

As the devils left his home, Issei was just barely fighting sleep. Rias had spent most of the time she was there gushing over how he'd make such a wonderful addition to her 'peerage' and—to his alarm—a good devil. When he'd asked what she meant, the redhead had told him to come to the club room after school tomorrow.

And then they left. Just like that.

Now, he had to find out what the hell had happened to his doors. Issei had been pretty sure that most anything short of something _he'd_ made would be unable to get through them, and even attempting it would have activated his security system. There were vibration sensitive triggers set in the door, and if the thumbprint scanner was passed without also passing the retinal scanner hidden in the wall underneath it, the door would electrocute anything it touched.

Coming to the hallway, the scientist stopped when he saw a hole where his door should have been. To be more accurate, where his door _should_ have been there was instead a circular hole, cleanly cut. The edges of the door was still in the frame, and the thumbprint scanner was untouched.

What the hell could have done so much damage without any leaving any evidence? Was it one of her devil powers, like the one he'd just killed today? And more importantly, did she activate it the same way?

No, there were more important things to worry about, like the meeting tomorrow.

Issei had been willing to wait. To finish up with the fallen in Kuoh before he turned his sights to the devils. Taking on both at once ran the risk of stretching himself too thin, causing him to make mistakes.

Now, though? After they had broken into his home, _into his workshop_? He had no choice but to deal with them as soon as possible. But how? If he did anything too big it was bound to be noticed by the government, and the last thing he wanted was them poking around.

It was times like this that Issei wished he had made more subtle weapons during his Chuunibyou days, instead of ripping off anime and video games.

Okay, so he had no existing weaponry capable of bridging the gap between humanity and devils. His fins were an ace, but using them put the scientist in far too much danger to be an option in anything other than emergencies. And if his doors were any indication, Rias and her group likely had special abilities relating to how they manipulated their energy. That pretty much threw a straight forward confrontation out, as Issei had no way of predicting those abilities and therefore defend against them. It seemed like his original plan of taking them by surprise one by one was still the most concrete idea he had.

But that had the issue of casting suspicion onto him. After revealing themselves to a human, they suddenly start disappearing? Sherlock wouldn't be called in for _that_ mystery. So he had to take care of them all at once, without giving them time to fight back. Considering his limited knowledge of the devils personal lives, the only place Issei knew of where they would all be present at the same time was the club room.

And since he was meeting with them tomorrow, he knew they would all be there at that time. What had he considered before? Sleeping gas? Well, it have to be his own concoction instead of the widely used chemicals in order to affect the devils. But he couldn't just haul a bomb into school, he'd be stopped before he got through the front gates.

Okay, he'd have to hammer out the details of the plan later, but for now he needed to work on his backup. Rushing down the stairs he suppressed a groan at seeing the remains of his doors once more. In the basement proper, his eye focused on the tarp in the back of the room.

If things went to shit, _it_ would have to do, attention grabbing or not.

Issei took back everything he'd ever said about school. The droning teacher, the surprisingly soft textbooks, the general air of boredom and despair, it all came together perfectly to make him fall asleep and _stay_ asleep. And after going a week without it, sleep was very much welcomed.

So when he was woken up at lunch by someone shaking his shoulders—something heavily reminiscent of the last time he'd been at school—the scientist only _just_ prevented himself from digging a scalpel out of his bag. Instead, he glared at the perpetrator, assuming it was the same blond bishounen as last time.

Instead he found himself locking eyes with an utterly adorable Koneko Toujou.

"Come." She said, face as stoic as always. Same as last time, Issei began analyzing her body. Except this time, there was the added bonus of her being nonhuman, meaning he could cut her open all he wanted.

Oh, how he was looking forward to that meeting.

Still, that wasn't until after school. He raised an eyebrow. "Now? The meeting isn't until later."

She didn't respond, merely staring at him. Sighing, Issei stood up, and Koneko lead him out of the classroom. Instead of heading towards the club room he had been in last time, however, the petite girl lead him to an empty classroom, closing the door behind him.

Issei's heartbeat sped up. She was making it so _hard_ not to pull out his kit and get to work. "What are we doing here?"

She remained silent, staring at him with a blank expression while standing in front of the door. The scientist stared right back, intrigued by the strange turn of events. Though Issei considered that this might be some sort of way to get him alone before killing him, the teen felt she would have done it by now. After all, as a devil she could snap his spine like a twig.

Finally, she seemed to decide something. "Buchou is going to offer something to you." She narrowed her eyes, her face contorting into a frown. "Don't accept it."

What? "What is she going to offer? And why shouldn't I accept?"

Really, she didn't expect him to agree without comment, did she?

"What it is doesn't matter. Just tell her no." The white haired girl insisted, refusing to clarify.

Issei stared at her for a moment, thoughtful. What was it that Rias had to offer? Did it have anything to do with becoming a devil, or that peerage thing? And why did Koneko want him to reject her redheaded friend? There were a lot of theories going through the scientist's head, but one in particular stood out.

"You don't like me." He said casually, as if he were commenting on the weather. "That's it, right? You don't like me, and whatever Rias offers involves dealing with me for extended periods."

It was a shame if that was the case, as Issei certainly liked her, if not in the way most young men liked a girl.

The catlike girl's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. Reluctantly, she nodded.

Issei frowned. "Could you tell me why? Because I don't recall doing anything to you." Yet, he left unsaid. Still, it did bother him that she disliked him to the point of not wanting to associate with him.

"I mean, I certainly like you." He continued.

Koneko's gold eyes widened even further, and a hint of pink appeared on her cheeks. It was gone as soon as he noticed it, replaced by determination. "Stop acting. I know what you are, and I won't let you near my friends."

Did she know about Yuuma? How, when not even her 'Buchou' had figured it out?

"And what am I?" He challenged, glancing behind him to check where the window was. They were on the second floor, but the scientist was confident that he would live if he had to jump to escape the small devil.

The catlike devil squared her shoulders. "Insane."

Issei felt rage boil up within him, threatening to break the careful control he'd always kept. It was even harder due to Koneko's nonhuman nature, as he had only ever sworn not to dissect humans. Cracking his neck—a delaying tactic he'd developed for whenever he thought he was going to lose it—the scientist cast a predatory look towards the small girl in front of him.

"Insane..." He stalked closer—ignoring the fact that Koneko could kill him easily—until their bodies were almost touching, his own towering over her small form as she pressed against the door. She did nothing to stop him despite knowing that he was only human, seemingly paralyzed in fear. "Insane implies that I'm not in control of my actions. I can assure you—"

Issei placed his hands on her so very soft shoulders.

"—that I'm very much in control." He finished in a whisper at her ear as she stood frozen against the door behind her. The scientist could feel her body shake under his fingers, and it appeared the small girl had gone into shock. She had made a mistake bringing him to an isolated location, and he had brought his bag. It was simply a matter of reaching in, grabbing one of his cutting tools, and getting to work on-

Issei stopped, pushing everything into a mental box. Slowly, he took his hands off her shoulders and backed away, his face blank. His intended victim followed him with her eyes, terrified with a hint of confusion at his retreat.

"You need to go now." He stated in a flat voice.

 **XXX**

It had been a week ago that Koneko was reminded of her older sister. When Issei Hyoudou had started laughing, the Nekoshou had sensed a darkness that she had only ever seen before in her sister whenever she used senjutsu too much. It was a darkness that belonged only to the insane. And it had terrified her.

She'd seen what her sister had done. That darkness lead only to tragedy.

When Issei Hyoudou had stopped coming to school the next day, the small girl had felt relieved. That a weight had been taken off her shoulders. She knew that her King would never stop in her attempts to acquire Issei, but Rias could do nothing as long as he didn't come to school. She hoped he never would.

And then, last night, Rias had informed them that he would be coming back for a meeting, that she had found out something wonderful. Apparently, Issei was even more of a genius than his test scores suggested, creating technological marvels such as the one her King had displayed. The redhead then explained that Issei was afraid of his work coming to light, that it would be taken from him and used for ill.

Koneko hadn't believed that. What had been in that laugh was no accident. She was the only one who thought so, however. And she knew that convincing her King not to offer him peerage was a lost cause, as the redhead was desperate to avoid marrying Riser and as long as Issei Hyoudou presented a way of doing so, Rias could see nothing wrong with him. The small girl's fellow peerage members had long since convinced themselves that they had imagined the darkness they had heard.

Koneko knew she'd have to act alone. She would be going against her King in this, but to keep her family safe she would do that and more. Koneko decided that she would confront him before the meeting, threaten him, beg him, anything that would make him refuse her King.

So she had gone to his class during lunch, woken him up, and took him to a secluded classroom, and told him not to accept anything Rias offered.

He hadn't reacted like she'd expected. When he kept pushing and asking, trying to get her off guard with ridiculous lies, she'd decided threats would have to work. She didn't get a chance to make any.

With one word, the darkness that she'd witnessed a week ago came into existence, except so much more potent and terrifying. Koneko—being a Nekoshou and therefore much more sensitive to the emotions of others—had never felt such anger, such fury, and it froze her with fear. Even using senjutsu, her sister had never felt like this. She could do nothing as he approached her, as he grabbed her, as he whispered into her ear, hot breath tickling her skin. The darkness she'd felt hidden within him was now front and center, and the thought of using her natural strength never made it past the screaming in her head.

Then the darkness was shoved back behind the cold steel layer it had hidden behind before, except this time the wall was its cage instead of its shield. He released her and backed away, his face an unreadable mask, his eyes dead.

"You need to go now."

There was no emotion in his voice, nor was there apathy. It was completely empty, as cold as the steel that had brought it. Koneko didn't move for a moment, then the door was open and she was already halfway out when she heard him speak again.

"And you don't have to worry about me accepting something from her."

As Koneko left, her body finally calming from her near panic—one that made her forget that he was human—she wondered about many things. She wondered why calling him insane had triggered something so terrifying. Why he was so interested in her. Why he had told her to leave.

Why hearing him agree to not accept her Kings' offer filled her with such unease.

Issei was still the same when he entered the club room later that day, cold and blank faced. Koneko didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, it meant he was in control, that the darkness within him was held at bay. On the other, something about it left her feeling dread. As if a great storm were coming, and she could do nothing to stop it. Which was ridiculous. She was a devil, he was a human. There was nothing he could do to stop her from killing him if she wanted.

The thought did little to calm her nerves.

In all honesty, she wished the bluntly honest Issei from last week would return. Wished the person who kept trying to steal her sweats would be here. Instead, Koneko watched as Rias explained all the three factions, about Sacred Gears, and about the peerage system. Watched as he showed no reaction whatsoever to anything, just stared blank faced as his bag sat on the table in front of him.

As Koneko's eyes blinked tiredly, as she felt herself getting sleepy, she thought something strange. Strange in that she couldn't understand it. Why would she think that? After what she had seen today, she should be prepared to do whatever it took to keep away from him. Instead, she thought:

 _I want to talk to the Issei that tried to take my sweets again._

And Koneko's eyes fluttered shut, the gentle embrace of sleep claiming her.

 **XXX**

As he watched the devils fall asleep, Issei mused that it was actually a blessing in disguise that Rias had broken into his house. If she hadn't, it could have been weeks or even months before he got around to dealing with them. Months when he could have snapped like he had in the classroom with Koneko. The scientist hadn't really noticed, but he had been acting strange ever since he had met the group of devils. It was only now he realized that he wasn't being careful enough, that he was letting his instincts control _him_ instead of the other way around.

He knew why, of course. The revelation that there were so many subjects in the world that weren't human had been staggering. It had opened flood gates in his mind he hadn't been aware of, made him _feel_ again, something that hadn't happened for so _long_...

It had made him happy, so much so that he had slipped in his self discipline. Before last week, the thoughts and urges to dissect people, to find out what made them tick, had been just that. Thoughts. But today? Today, he had almost started a vivisection in the middle of school, where people would _know_ she was missing.

That simply wouldn't do. Given his nature, Issei required balance. Too happy, and his darker desires he'd always kept in his mind became actions. Too cold, and the world stopped holding any meaning at all. It was extremely important that he balance himself.

Which was why the opportunity to take care of the devils was so welcome. Especially Koneko—she was just too dangerous to him to be allowed to roam free.

Noticing that the devils had finally succumbed to the sleeping gas, Issei reached into his backpack and flipped off the switch to his dispenser, halting the flow of gas. The scientist would like to say that the reason the gas hadn't affected him was because he had built an immunity to this chemical. Considering he'd made it last night for the first time, that was improbable. Or maybe he had an implant to filter out toxins from the air he breathed. This was sadly not the case, though it was something he'd work on.

The actual reason for it was that he had so many uppers running through his system at the moment that the gas just couldn't make him fall asleep. He'd gone to the bathroom right before the meeting and injected himself with a syringe full of the stuff. Not the most elegant solution, but the scientist hadn't had much time to work with. He'd be done before he crashed anyway.

Digging his kit out of his backpack, Issei decided he'd start with Koneko. He picked her up, gently cradling her to his chest as he swept the desk clean, knocking everything to the floor. Laying her upon it, he unfurled the kit, grabbing his scalpel.

There was a knock at the door.

Issei froze, scalpel in hand. Then, he rushed to the door, stepping over the body of the bishounen as he did so. Peering through the peephole, the scientist bit back a curse. The glasses wearing girl from last night was present, along with several others. Clenching his fist, he scanned the room. People laying on the ground, motionless, and a roll of surgical equipment lay on the table next to Koneko. Issei had a scalpel in hand.

It was rather suspicious.

Another knock spurred him into action, grabbing his bag and stuffing his kit into it as he looked around for an exit. No other doors, but the window...

Huffing, Issei slowed down as he entered an alley that would take him home quicker. He had managed to get away, but the devils would no doubt come after him as soon as they woke up. He needed to get home and activate every defense he could.

Then something crashed into the back of his head, and all he knew was darkness.

Issei's eyes blinked open, his head dazed. He was in a small, decrepit room lit by candles, sitting on a chair. Attempting to move, he found he was tied to the wooden chair, his hands behind the back of it and his legs taped to the front legs of the chair. His small movements didn't go unnoticed, however.

"You're awake!" A feminine voice exclaimed from behind him. The scientist heard the shuffling of cloth, then slow, uncertain, footsteps coming in his direction.

A young girl appeared in his vision, wearing the clothing of a nun. With long golden hair and an innocent face, the only thing that set off his senses about her was the way she kept her eyes closed. Hesitantly, she held her hands out toward him, blindly searching for him. Her palm touched his cheek, causing her to blush.

"I-I'm sorry!"

She kept her hand on him though, bringing her other hand to the opposite cheek. Red faced, her hands drifted up into his hair, fingers combing through it and soothingly rubbing his scalp.

"... What are you doing?" Issei deadpanned, confused by the gentle touch. Wasn't she supposed to be one of his captors?

The blonde's face reddened further, but she continued rubbing his head. "I-I have t-to check for i-injuries... s-sorry..."

"Ah, That make sense. If I'm not dead yet, you devils must want something from me."

It was the only thing that made sense to the scientist. The devils must have caught up to him and knocked him out. As for why they wouldn't just kill him, Issei assumed they wanted answers for why he had put them to sleep before he had to run. That, or they wanted to use him to make weapons for their war against the other two factions. He had a feeling that the treaty they were supposed to have would only last until one side could make a decisive victory.

"Devils? N-no, there are only f-fallen here..." Her lips twisted into a soft frown. "A-are devils after you too?"

Fallen? That... that made sense, actually. Yuuma must have had allies, considering Kuoh was enemy territory for her kind, so it was only natural that they would be looking for her. But why now? It'd been over a week since he had dissected her, surely they would have captured him before now?

Still, it was horrible timing. First, he alerts the devils to his intentions, then he's captured by fallen angels. Were the normal angels going to show up anytime soon to start judging him? Today was just a bad day all around.

"So, what do you want?" Issei said, remaining calm as the nun's fingers wrapped around the back of his head. If he could get his hands free...

"M-Me?! N-no, I'm not one of t-them! I... I'm human..." The girl shook her head vigorously in denial.

The scientist frowned. Did humans work with fallen? "A human? What are you doing with fallen?"

A pained expression crossed her face. "I... I used to be with the church..." She looked to the ground, ashamed. "B-but... I was excommunicated for healing a devil. The f-fallen took me in because of my S-sacred Gear."

She didn't sound very happy about that. Was she some sort of slave here? Looking at her more closely, Issei could see that her dress was dirty, her hair dull and matted. Why would they lock him in with their slave? And what was that about a Sacred Gear?

Then she made sound of triumph, and a green light appeared from her hand and to the back of his head. The fog in his mind dissipated immediately, allowing him to more clearly process what just happened.

"Your Sacred Gear heals? How? Does it make you tired when you do it? And does it use cell division or cell regeneration?" The scientist shot out, fascinated. While magical healing was common in fiction, in real life one tended to run into problems. As in, by increasing cell division to repair wounds, cancer would develop in anyone that was healed too often.

Bringing her hands back to her side, the girl frowned. "I... I don't know. I-I mean, I always assumed it was God's power, but I... recently I..."

She trailed off. If Issei had to guess, he'd say that she was having a few problems with her religion at the moment. Still, it was annoying that he couldn't get answers out of her—and since she was human, a vivisection was out of the question. Still, something else was bothering him...

"Why are your eyes closed? Is it a requirement for your Sacred Gear to work?" It would be good to know if Sacred Gear had specific usage requirements.

The nun went still, hands clenched at her sides. Her shoulders started shaking, and her head bowed as if expecting to be hit. She was the picture of a damaged girl. Then, she rose her head until her face was visible, and opened her eyes. Or rather, her eye sockets. Black and fleshy pink, the scarring on the back of her socket indicated that it hadn't been too long since it had been done, a few days at most.

"T-they..." Her voice trembled. "They didn't w-want me to g-go anyw-where..."

Issei made sound of understanding. It was crude, but he supposed it was effective, although he wondered why they hadn't gone for the legs as well. Personally, he preferred using drugs for that kind of thing. Less messy.

"I see." Bad choice of words. The girl didn't seem to mind, though she closed her eyelids. "And you can't heal that?"

She shook her head. "N-no. I can't heal amputations. It has to be c-connected to the body."

 _That_ was an interesting limitation. The scientist could feel the urge to put the girl on his table intensify, though he clamped down on it. A repeat of what happened with Koneko wouldn't be appreciated. The girl... wait, what was her name? He asked.

"Asia Argento..." The nun seemed confused by his change of topic, but answered anyway.

"I'm Issei Hyoudou. Listen, Asia, would like a job?"

"What?" She questioned, unsure if she had heard him correctly.

"A job. After this is over. Your Sacred Gear could help me keep my subjects alive."

Issei wasn't stupid. He knew that there were only two ways out of captivity here. Either he died after they found out what he did to their fellow fallen, or he somehow managed to capture or kill them all. As it was, things were leaning toward the former, but it'd be nice to have a reward if he managed to live. A girl who can heal wounds? Extremely valuable.

Asia opened and closed her mouth for a few moments, speechless, before managing to get a word out. "I... I'm so sorry. T-they probably won't let you l-live..." She looked like she was geniunely about to cry about his fate. Kept as a slave, locked in a room, deprived of her sight, and she cared about him? What a strange girl.

The scientist nodded. "Yes, probably. On the off chance that I _do_ live, however, would you like a job? I can provide lodging and food." He didn't use most of his house anyway.

"I—... yes. If...When this is over, y-yes." She was clearly only humoring him, trying to give him hope, but he accepted it regardless.

"Great. I'll come get you." He promised. Not as incentive for him to live—the scientist cared little for promises—but simply because that if he was alive after this, it'd do him no harm to retrieve Asia. If he wasn't alive... well, a broken promise would be the least of his worries.

Now, to implement his plan. "Hey, could you grab my necklace and—"

The door burst open, and a white haired teen his age walked in, dressed as a priest. His face twisted into a gleeful sneer on seeing Asia in front of the scientist. "Ha! Did the holy little slut give you a last request? Maybe a handy, or was it a blowjob?"

The nun flinched at the sound of his voice, cowering in place. Thankfully for her, the clearly fake priest ignored her. "Well, time to get started!"

The white haired boy stepped behind Issei and grabbed the back of his chair, then started dragging him out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them. The scientist paid no mind as the chair he was on was slid across a hallway, thinking instead of how to get to his emergency beacon. He'd built it last night as a backup in case his meeting with the devils didn't go well. Unfortunately, it was located in a necklace he had worn today. It was simple, just a length of string around his neck with a circular pad attached to it, all one had to do was press the center of it to send out a signal to... _it._ Unfortunately, the fake priest currently dragging him away had stopped him from asking Asia to do it. If he could get his arms free...

Issei was shocked out of his thoughts by a sudden stop. Looking around, he saw that they were in the middle of the hallway, no one else around. The white haired teen stepped around the chair so that he was in front of the scientist. "Name's Freed Sellzen! What's yours?"

Staring, the scientist answered. "Issei Hyoudou. Why?"

"Because I want to know how ya killed that hot bitch, Raynare." Freed said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Who?" He could guess who, but Freed didn't need to know that. "And I never killed anyone."

The white haired teen laughed, cruel and high pitched. "Man, you're a horrible liar! Come on, tell me!"

Issei paused, watching the teen before him. He didn't seem upset at the thought of the scientist having killed what was presumably one of his comrades. And Issei _was_ a bad liar...

"I cut her up and put her in my freezer." He tried to shrug, but his bonds made that difficult. Freed smiled, staring at him.

"Nice. How'd ya do it?" The white haired teen cocked his head.

What a strange priest. Issei almost told him, but though better of it, observing Freed's excited demeanor. The teen before him seemed to care little for an ally, so maybe... "I'm wearing a necklace. Press the center of it and find out."

It was a challenge, and Freed knew it.

"Where did Raynare go!?" The single male fallen demanded.

"Who?" Issei asked in a monotone.

This had been going on for a while now. The man would ask a question, the scientist would respond with a question. Their audience, the two female fallen and Freed, were getting impatient. The crazed priest had almost fallen asleep in the pews, legs propped up on the pew in front of him. The small blonde had been checking her nails for the last ten minutes, and the well-endowed blue haired woman was cradling a yellow spear she had created out of nothing in frustration.

Issei was almost certain she had used holy energy to do it. That glow, the feeling he got from seeing it, it was all very similar to Yuuma's, aside from color. And why was that? Had these creatures really evolved to be color coordinated? What a bizarre quality.

Finally, the tall female fallen had had enough. "Dohnaseek, just torture it out of him!

The male, Dohnaseek, scoffed. "Kalawarner, torture doesn't work. If we do that, he'd tell us anything to stop it, even if he doesn't _know_ anything."

"Well, at least he'd be _saying_ something instead of asking questions. Hell, _we're_ supposed to be the ones asking questions." The blonde girl spoke up, eyes still trained on her nails.

"This doesn't concern you, Mittelt. Go get a coloring book, or whatever it is children do nowadays." Dohnaseek waved her off, not looking in the small fallen's direction. It was due to this that a pink spear of light almost impaled his skull, only Mittelt's poor aim saving his life. The man, facing away from her, didn't notice.

Yes, Issei was almost certain that they were using holy power to create those spears.

"Look, just let me try! I'll get the information out of him in no time." Kalawarner, the blue haired woman, pleaded.

The male fallen seemed to consider it for a moment, before crossing his arms over his chest and sighing. "Oh, fine. Just make sure you don't damage him too much. If we don't get it out of him today, we'll need him alive for questioning tomorrow."

"That," The buxom woman sauntered over to Issei's seated form, spear in hand, "is what the 'Holy Priestess' is for."

Before Issei had time to blink, the yellow spear was thrust into his kneecap.

At the same time, an explosion rocked the building, coming from the main floor above.

 **XXX**

" _ **Master!"**_

The group of fifty fallen priests scattered, trying to avoid the monster currently attacking them. As large as a motorcycle and twice as wide, it tore through them like it was cutting grass.

" _ **Where are you, Master? Your hound comes to fight at your side!"**_

Metal claws the size of a man's hand ripped them apart, blood soaking floor of the abandoned church.

" _ **Where are the fiends that hold you captive!?"**_

A long thick wire snaked about, acting as it's tail. It wrapped around throats, broke spines, threw the men into the stone walls of the building.

" _ **Where are the cowards that hide you from your most faithful servant!?"**_

Fire spewed from it's mouth, burning everything, turning it to ash. White plates attached to it's back suddenly detached, seven in total, and rocketed down the stairs of the church.

" _ **Go, my lesser comrades! Aid our Master!"**_

A single crimson eye, glaring from beneath a visor, striking fear into the hearts of men.

 **XXX**

Pain. It was all he could register. The panicked shouting of the fallen beside him, the excited cheers from Freed, he heard it all yet he couldn't focus on any of them. It was only his pain, only the warmth running down his leg, only the burning at his knee, only they were razor sharp to him. Even when his fins crashed through the door, even when they landed beside him, even when one cut burnt his ropes off with a scalding heat down his back, he could only distantly register them.

He was no warrior. Pain wasn't something he was familiar with. It wasn't something he could just push into the back of his mind. He needed to deal with it, he needed to fix it.

He knew just where to go.

With a mental command, his fins pinned his body between them before shooting off. He was flying down a familiar hallway in an instance, bursting through a familiar door a one tenth of a second after that. His funnels lowered him onto the floor.

"My knee." was all he managed to get out before succumbing to the pain once more, his vision growing dark at the edges. A crying voice at his side, hands pawing at his legs.

Then the pain stopped, and he could see, and he could _think_. He groaned, then sat up. Asia knelt at his side, a death grip on his knee, tears running down her face. He could only think of one thing to say.

"Keep your head tilted down." Issei said. "If you don't, the tears will pool in your eye sockets."

The nun threw herself on top of the scientist, cheek pressed against his chest. Unsure of how to respond, Issei simply sat there for a few moments more while Asia cried. An explosion once again rocked the building, snapping Issei out of his fog.

"Oh, I have to go deal with that." The scientist gently pushed the girl off and stood, ignoring the painful twinge his left knee gave. It was manageable now, much less than the searing agony that had coursed through him moments before. Before leaving he turned back to Asia, who still sat on the floor in shock, probably at his sudden departure. "Be right back."

He limped down the hallway, fins in an arrow formation surrounding him, lasers at the ready. It was a strange thing, adrenaline. Made it harder to think, but everything seemed crystal clear. He beat it down as much as he could. While it was appreciated, his mind was his greatest asset, especially concerning his fins. While they were quite effective at sharp shooting, in order to capture the fallen in order to run tests—which was the whole reason he'd been searching for them in the first place—he would need to use their other functions, which required that they operate independently from one another.

Issei entered the room he had so hurriedly left, finding much the same scene as before. Dohnaseek stood in the center of the room, trying to assert his leadership. Mittelt was halfway hidden behind a pillar, hesitantly peeking at the stairs.

Freed was in the pews, holding his side as he laughed.

And next to the chair they'd tied him to, stood Kalawarner, a bloody spear in her hand as she gawked at where he had flown off to. Which meant she was looking straight at him.

The look on her face as seven crimson beams reduced her to ash was one he'd savor. He only really needed one male and one female, making her superfluous. But his action brought the attention of the other two, and he could no longer use his lasers for fear of killing them.

Blue and pink spears of light shot at him, only for both to be blocked by the composite plating of his funnels. Issei marched forward, limping.

The barrage of light continued, each one stopped dead in its' tracks by the placement of a fin. The two fallen wore growing expressions of shock as he walked through volley after volley unscathed. Panic set in, and Mittelt stopped her onslaught and flared her wings, taking to the air, closely followed by Dohnaseek.

But they were in the basement, and there would be no escape. He separated his fins, two to each fallen while the remaining three stayed to protect him.

This was where the difficulty in using the fins came about. Any fool could direct them in concert, and perhaps an especially intelligent fool could shoot several different targets at once with the lasers, but performing several different tasks in tandem with another fin, each one supporting the other with different movements? It was like having seven different brains all thinking at once, seven different perspectives. A human's brain would burst like a grape from the exertion. Thankfully, he had his implant to help.

The pair speeding towards Mittelt each opened a panel on their side, letting a metal wire fly free. Running a high voltage shock through the wires, they snapped together. Mittelt, caught by surprise, was unable to do anything as the pair shot by her, wire dragging behind them to wrap around her wings as she was shocked into unconsciousness

As she fell to earth, the same strategy failed to catch Dohnaseek off guard, a blue spear of light cutting the wire down the center as the pair of fins flew past him on either side of the fallen. He then shot several spears at Issei, causing the three remaining funnels to automatically guard him.

In the blink of an eye, Dohnaseek was less than a yard in front of him, spear held back.

Issei froze. His fins were still in the midst of blocking the spears the fallen had thrown. The other two, returning from their failed wire run, were too slow to reach him in time. Despite his genius, despite his planning, he was still going to die? So quickly, no fanfare or anything? The fallen in front of him wasn't even going to kill him in a magnificent fashion. Just stab him. He needed to be faster. _He needed to be faster_.

 **[Boost!]**

Suddenly the scientist was in motion, diving to the side. The spear missed, and a red blur slammed into the side of Dohnaseek's head, making his body fall limply to the ground. Prone on the ground, Issei took a deep breath.

Then choked on it when he saw his left arm cover in a bulky red gauntlet with green gem in it's center. The same color as whatever had hit the fallen. Looking around, Issei felt his eye begin to twitch in irritation. His fins, all seven of them, were now a deep red. What the hell was going on? He stopped his thoughts, shelving them for when he was safely ensconced within his workshop.

"Ha! You activated your Sacred Gear. That's a Twice Critical, ain't it?" observed Freed from his seat in the pews. "That was a pretty close call, though. Looks like you're really super weak!"

Issei scowled, pushing himself to his feet. "I needed them alive."

"Sure ya did. Anyway, what now? I'm still here." The crazed priest bared his teeth, hand in his robes.

" _ **Master!"**_

Landing with a concrete smashing thud, _it_ arrived. With a sleek metal body, huge metal claws, a long prehensile tail, and a form similar to some great wolf, his emergency plan arrived.

" _ **Master, Your greatest servant, Anubis, has ferried the souls of your enemies across the river Styx!"**_

Briefly, the scientist considered biting his tongue off and allowing himself to drown in his blood. Anubis, his most embarrassing creation. It was essentially a highly modified combat version of the Jackal. The personality, however...

"Anubis? The river Styx? Those are from—"

"Yes, I know. Shut up." Issei ground out from clenched teeth.

Freed looked at Anubis once more, perhaps noticing the fact that—personality aside—it was an extremely effective killing machine. He took let go of whatever was in his robes, choosing to fight another day.

"Right, well... I'm gonna get outta here before someone shows up." Freed said awkwardly, staring at Anubis as he backed up the stairs.

" _ **Master, do you wish me to hunt him down?"**_

"I wish you'd shut up, honestly."

The hulking death machine said nothing. Good. Now all the scientist had to do was retrieve Asia.

It was a short walk to the room where the nun was held, and she seemed shocked to see—well, hear—him again. Considering the way he had barged in last time, Issei didn't blame her. She was silent as he lead her out of the basement, though the tight grip she had on his arm told him how nervous she was. When they reached the ground floor, the scientist stopped.

Blood pooled over the ground, bodies burning and stone melting around them. Slightly in front and to his right, Anubis stood guard, his fearsome black form towering over them. His red eye gleamed under his visor, matching electronic lines contrasting his black armor, and the two fallen lay across his back, held in place by his tail. Issei himself stood in the center of the staircase, blood stained knee open to the air, red gauntlet over his hand, a blonde nun clutching his arm. Behind him, his now crimson funnels flared out behind him like the wings of some mechanical god.

That was the scene Rias, Sona, and their respective peerages walked into from the ash covered front doors.

 **XXX**

 **Well, here's the end of the first arc. Sort of. There's still the backlash to deal with.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so after the last chapter, I realized that some of my formatting—extra spaces to denote time passing within the same POV—wasn't carrying over to whatever this site uses. This has made my previous chapters look even sloppier than they are naturally. So from now on, I've decided to use a line to convey that. Keep that in mind.**

 **XXX**

The red fins immediately turned to aim at the new threats, lasers primed to fire. Issei was done trying to collect samples. If what Rias had explained earlier today was true, there were far more devils waiting for him in the underworld, rendering the ones before him useless.

Anubis also readied itself, wrapping its tail around the fallen on its back and lowering them to the ground. The black machine lowered itself to the ground, claws slicing through concrete as it prepared to launch itself forward.

"Ara ara, Issei-kun works fast!" A big breasted devil with black hair teased, strangely nonchalant about confronting the teen that put her to sleep to do God knows what to her and her friends.

The scientist paused while Anubis remained crouched, ready to pounce when his master gave the order. He was somewhat confused. None of them seemed upset at him, in fact most wore relieved expressions on their faces, at least the ones that weren't looking at him in awe. What was going on?

"Issei-kun!" Rias exclaimed, walking forward to meet him. "I'm so glad you're okay—"

A crimson beam lanced out, sinking into the stone at her feet. An instant later, she stumbled, even a devil not being fast enough to react to the speed of light. She stared at him in shock even while her peerage spread out in front of her to shield their King, while Sona's peerage quickly did the same. None of them retaliated, though the scientist could tell they were only waiting for their respective Kings' command. Anubis still crouched beside him, recognizing the warning shot for what it was.

Asia squirmed at his side, the sudden warmth blanketing them alerting her to the fact that all was not well.

"What are you doing?" Issei barked out, near death having made him lose all capacity for subtlety.

Rias looked at him, jaw slack until realization crossed her features. "I-Issei-kun, we had nothing to do with your kidnapping!"

The scientist stared, his eyes calculating. He hadn't thought they were, but why would they... "Explain."

So she did. According to her, once her peerage had been woken by Sona, they had immediately scouted the area to search for Issei. Just beyond the school limits, they had found black feathers, proof that there had been a fallen stalking him. This much made sense to Issei, considering how quickly he had been intercepted on his way back home, though the devils had a different theory. Apparently, the scientist had been kidnapped by the fallen after a magician had both put the redhead's peerage to sleep and bypassed the school's wards.

After she finished her explanation, she looked at him anxiously, clearly hoping that he would believe her. Which he did, excepting the existence of a magician—something he would be looking into—and being kidnapped out of the club room, since the scientist had been responsible for both of those anomalies. In fact, this was a minor miracle. The devils didn't know he had tried to kill them, which meant he didn't have to fight them at the moment. He could continue acting as nothing more than a robotic engineer, allowing him to strike again. It was the perfect cover.

"You're wrong about one thing."

Except he didn't really _need_ a cover anymore, did he? He was tired at the moment, but now was his best chance to kill them. His funnels were at the ready, Anubis would slaughter a good number before going down, and he had Asia to heal him if he _did_ get hurt. No reason to worry about witnesses, no need to pick a location, just fire away and all his problems were solved!

"There was no magician."

Of course, thinking about it, he had no need to kill them. If what Rias had said earlier was true, there was an entire _dimension_ full of devils. And also living in a sub pocket of that dimension were the fallen, which he now had two of. Therefore, he had a way into the underworld once they could be 'persuaded' to tell him.

"That was me."

And hadn't he said it before? Issei had no talent for lying. The time spent trying to hide what he was while also denying Rias's offer of peerage—she hadn't actually said so, but with what Koneko had said, it was the only thing that made sense—was time better spent experimenting or sleeping.

His words caused looks of confusion to appear among the devils, though Sona narrowed her eyes at him, and Koneko looked as though she'd just realized something—like why she had been moved in her sleep. Rias bit her lip. "What are you talking about, Issei-kun? How was it—"

"There was a gas dispenser in my bag." Issei interrupted casually, as if admitting to the fact that he liked sleeping. "I put you all to sleep and tried to kill you. It's only thanks to her"—he nodded in Sona's direction—"that you're still alive."

Slowly, a hurt expression spread across Rias's face as she stared at him, shocked. "I-I don't understand... why would you do that? It doesn't make any sense..."

"For one, you're devils. The chance to dissect you and learn what makes you tick was too good to pass up. For another," Issei's eyes narrowed, glaring at the redhead and Sona, "you broke into my home, _vaporized_ the doors to my basement, wandered around my workshop, and _stole_ my fucking beam saber!"

He was shouting by the end of his list, fist shaking in anger. Stunned by his outburst, the gathered devils could only stare at him in disbelief. Anubis rose from his crouched position at his master's words, eyes scanning the group with renewed interest.

" _ **You are the scoundrels that damaged my Master's magnificent doors?! Fiends! I, Anubis, will drag you all into Naraka!"**_

Issei flinched back as if struck, the humiliation of his middle school years a physical blow. Asia, despite whatever misgivings she may have had to her savior admitting to attempted murder and immoral scientific experimentation, felt his discomfort and squeezed his arm tighter in an attempt to soothe him. The devils had gone silent at the machine's declaration, before Sona pursed her lips. "Naraka? Isn't that a Hindu—"

"Yes, I know! Anubis, no more talking for you!" The scientist snapped. Middle school Issei had _so_ much to answer for, including a lack of understanding of mythology.

Rias could no longer hold back. "You tried to kill us because of a cheap wooden door?!"

" _Cheap_?! _Wood_?! It was wood paneling over a solid steel core!" He said, furious at her dismissal of them.

"They were just doors!"

"They were _expensive_ doors!" Issei hissed, teeth clenched. "And they protected my workshop! As in, the only place in that fucking house that matters to me!"

They stood glaring at one another. The scientist almost attacked right then, with only Asia's attempts to calm him down keeping him from ordering his fins to reduce all of them to ash. The girl had her face pressed against his arm, one hand rubbing circles in his back soothingly. It was strangely comforting.

"Why are you telling us this?"

He moved his gaze to the speaker, Sona. She had her arms crossed and was glaring at him suspiciously. Biting down his anger, Issei forced himself to calm down. He slowly inhaled and exhaled, allowing him to return to his usual self. "What do you mean?"

She huffed. "If you had just gone along with our explanation, then we would have never known _any_ of this. Why are you giving up the advantage?"

"Oh, that." Issei said flatly. It was a good question, he supposed. "Honestly, I don't have the urge to dissect you anymore. Well, besides Koneko, and as long as I stay away from her that shouldn't flare up."

What he left unsaid was that he was tired. Even if it had only been a day since the scientist had decided to kill Rias and her peerage, it felt _so_ much longer to him. This had been one of the most trying days of his life, and he had no intention of ever doing something like it again. All he had to do was resolve the situation before him, and while it was tempting to just kill them now and be done with it, he had a feeling that wouldn't be the end of it. The devils before him were the children of _somebody_ —the whole Evil Piece system had proved that, since it was an attempt to widen the gene pool— and he assumed that their mysterious disappearance would be looked into. The scientist hadn't considered it before due to his obsession with acquiring subjects, but it was clear to him now that killing them would only prolong his problem. Best to just agree to leave each other alone.

"How do you know about Koneko?!" Rias shouted, alarmed. Koneko herself had gone white, staring at him in fear.

Issei cocked his head, confused. "What? You told me you were devils yourself, why are you so..."—His eyes widened in realization—"Is there something special about her?"

 _That_ was interesting. What could it be? A Sacred Gear? If so, what could it be? Why would it be such a big secret? He could think of a few possibilities, of course. Perhaps it was an advanced version of Asia's already miraculous Twilight Healing. Or maybe something more offense oriented? Of course, it might not be a Sacred Gear at all. From what he understood, all of Rias's peerage were reincarnated from something that wasn't a devil. Was it possible that she hadn't been a human either? Could an Evil Piece turn a fallen or an angel into a devil? He could understand if that were the case; as a former enemy of devil kind, it would be important to hide her identity. And that wasn't even getting into the possibilities of his theory about mythical creatures being right.

"You—wait, what? Why do you want to dissect Koneko so badly then?" Rias stuttered. At this point, all of the devils had relaxed their combat positions in favor of watching the show currently going on between human and devil.

"That? I've wanted do take her apart since the moment I saw her, before I even knew she was a devil. Of course, I would've never had acted on it, except... well, learning you guys weren't people was just..." He trailed off, chuckling at the memory.

He had spent all his life refraining from acting on his urges. He'd even decided to focus in robotics in order to avoid tempting himself by studying the human body. Of course, the scientist had ended up doing that anyway in order to branch out into mechanical augmentation, though the teen had promised himself that he'd avoid extensive surgery unless he needed it. The idea that there were non humans that looked _just_ like humans... it had been liberating.

Rias had calmed down considerably at this, though the cat like girl somehow looked even more terrified than before. Rias was still confused, however. "Why?"

Thinking about it, Issei realized he didn't know. She _did_ bring up the darker instincts within him, but that had been _after_ he had first wanted to dissect her. He hadn't known she was anything other than cute the first time they had met, so what—oh.

"I _think_ I have a crush on her. Weird." He mused aloud, noticing but not bothered by the flabbergasted looks everyone was sending at him. Koneko's face was a strange mix between horror and embarrassment. Even Asia at his side stiffened, though why it bothered her he could only guess.

"A crush?! Then why do you want to dissect her?!" Rias was shouting at this point, obviously upset.

Issei shrugged, not actually knowing the answer to that. Perhaps he'd mistaken physical lust for an urge to dissect? No, he still wanted to do it, even if he recognized his attraction to her. "It doesn't really matter. It'll probably go away in time."

"While this has all been very fascinating," Sona cut in, readjusting her glasses, "Let's get back to the matter at hand."

Rias huffed and crossed her arms in frustration, but said nothing.

"As to you not wanting to,"—she swallowed—" _dissect_ us anymore, what makes you think we'll just let your attempted murder go?"

The scientist nodded in understanding. "Well, unless its common for devils to detect and move at the speed of light, seven of you will instantly die the moment a fight breaks out."

Issei gestured to his fins, all of which bobbed in acknowledgment. The devils tensed, having not realized the danger they'd been in.

"And," he grimaced, " _Anubis_ here can probably kill quite a few of you. This is as good as the odds will get for me, so don't think I'll hesitate to kill you."

"Yet you haven't." Sona noted, glancing stoically at the hulking machine of death beside him.

"Yes. I have a proposition for all of you." The scientist declared in the same flat tone that he usually spoke in. "You leave me alone, and I leave you alone."

There was a silence at his words. Then, Rias spoke up. "Why would we do that? You tried to kill us."

Issei scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "And you broke into my home."

"Those are hardly equal crimes." Sona said.

Sighing, the teen relented. "Alright, fine. How about... I make _one_ thing for your group, and you all leave me alone."

Both Sona and Rias perked up at that, though Rias was somewhat more reluctant. Sona, however, then frowned. "Only one? Considering what you tried to do, you're going to have to do a lot more than one. Especially since there are _two_ peerages here."

"I only tried to kill one peerage. In fact, I don't see why _you_ should get anything at all, being an unaffected party." Issei protested, frowning. Whatever he worked on for them would take away from his own inventions, and he wasn't willing to sacrifice his own progress, peaceful resolution or not.

"We could contact our families about what you tried to do. See how well you do with _them_." Sona shot back, a hint of a vindictive smile tugging at her lips.

The scientist grimaced. The last thing he wanted to do was involve worried parents. "One invention for _each_ group, then. That's my final offer."

After talking it over with each other, they agreed, with a warning to never touch any member of their peerages. Which was fine, the apparent uniqueness of Koneko aside. He'd just have to tough his 'crush' out like so many other teenage boys did.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go trap some fallen in my basement."

* * *

"All done." Issei said, hands on his hips.

The teen had just finished putting together a bed for Asia. Of course, putting the frame together had proven more difficult than an accomplished engineer like himself would ever admit to, but it was done. He'd bought one on the way home and had Anubis carry it along with the fallen. It'd been an awkward fit, but the machine had managed it, enthusiastic about 'aiding his Master in this most dire of situations'. The scientist was just glad that, as late as it was, no one had been around to see it.

Turning to the entrance to the room, He saw Asia there, gripping the door frame as she patiently waited for him. The nun had been quiet on the way home, probably because she was still getting used to the idea of living with and working with someone who dissected people for fun. She'd never let go of his arm until he'd needed assemble the bed for her though, so she must not have been terribly upset.

"I-Issei, are you a b-bad person?" She stuttered, a sad note in her voice.

He briefly considered lying, but discarded the idea. "Probably. I won't hurt you, though. In fact, I—"

"I trust you." Asia interrupted with a sad smile, holding her hand out. Confused at her abrupt dismissal of his morality, he took it and guided her to the bed. Sitting her down on it, Issei tried to back up only to stop when she didn't release his hand.

"Asia?" He asked as she lowered her head so that he couldn't see her face.

"I... I don't care if you're a bad person, I just..." The nun brought his hand to her face, where he felt a wetness. Asia gripped his hand with her other and began to sniffle. "You won't h-hurt me? Y-you'll keep me safe?"

A bargain. That was her offer. She would ignore the fact that he wasn't a good person as long as he took care of her. It was a logical exchange, something the both of them could live with. Why, then, did his chest ache? As if this was wrong and sad? Was it pity for her? Of a nice, upstanding person who had been broken so much as to accept his protection? Pity had never been one of his strong points, so he had no clue. All that he could do was bring his free hand to her hair, patting her head like one would a dog. It was all he knew to do, something his mother had done to him in the past.

"Yes." He promised. If he was going to be using her Sacred Gear, the least he could do was what she asked.

It wasn't long before the nun fell asleep, allowing Issei to slip out of the room. He was going to stick to his usual schedule, especially since he had a lot to do tonight. There was upgrading his funnels, installing a new feature to his brain implant, building a nerve booster, and his plans for Asia to think about. First, however, he had something he'd been waiting to do for a week now.

Entering the lab where he had dissected Yuuma, Issei scanned his newest acquisitions. He had set up a second examination table and placed it next to the other in the center of the room, with enough room for two men to walk in between them. The two fallen lay on them, an IV drip of Tetroxiden preventing them from waking.

One of them was going to answer his questions. But which one? The male, Dohnaseek, obviously had more knowledge, but he was unlikely to share it unless Issei resorted to torture, which hurt his chances of getting any real information. The girl, Mittelt, was the opposite. She probably knew the least, but would be willing to share if he poked around a bit.

Decisions, decisions...

 **XXX**

The club room was silent as its members sat, thinking of the day's events. It hadn't escaped any of them that they had almost been killed by a deranged scientist in this very room, and the thought gave the air a subtle tension. Their main base, for all intents and purposes, had nearly been the place where they died. Worse than that, it had nearly been the place where they were taken apart as some sick experiment.

"I still think we should kill him." Kiba muttered, a bitter expression on his face as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

Rias gave him a sympathetic look, but shook her head. "No. Despite his... nature, his genius is real. We'll need whatever he can make us for our battle with Riser."

Of course, the King understood her Knight's bitterness. Kiba had once been an experiment of the church, after all. The idea of being so close to being treated like that again had brought his darker thoughts to the foreground.

"Then let's kill him afterwards!" The blond boy growled.

"We made a deal, Kiba." Rias scolded. Then a cold grin spread across her features and a malicious light in her eyes. "But if he so much as _touches_ any of you, even if he just bumps into in the hall, kill him. _No one_ hurts my peerage and gets away with it."

And she meant it. While she may have broken into his house and stolen from him, that didn't excuse murder. She may have been desperate for a new member of her peerage to take on Riser, but not if that meant risking the lives of the pieces she already had.

"Ah, Buchou?" Akeno, sitting on the couch with Koneko, turned to face her. "Don't we have time before we face Riser?"

Rias grimaced. "Technically, we have until I graduate from a human university. But... knowing Riser, he won't wait that long."

It was just like him to be impatient. While he had been a sweet boy as a child, the third Phenex child was now only a lecherous womanizer, intent on adding the redheaded devil to his collection. And her parents wanted her to marry him to 'keep the pure blood clans alive'. She didn't know what her parents were thinking, especially since they were such big supporters of reincarnated devils. And trading their only daughter away like she was livestock? It just went to show that while devils had come a long way since the old satans had been killed, they were still behind humans in many ways.

"Then shouldn't we be training?" Her Knight questioned, frowning. "You know, instead of relying on something a madman makes."

Rias sighed. "It isn't a matter of training, though we should do that anyway. We just _don't_ have a strong enough attack to defeat him. His immortality is almost as good as a god's invulnerability, not to mention we have to get through a full peerage to strike at him."

That was the problem with fighting a Phenex. Even the weakest, most pathetic member of their clan could outright destroy most other devils due to the simple fact that actually hurting one permanently was almost impossible, especially since holy water was banned in rating games. It was due to this fact that, typically, members of the Phenex clan only ever fought against peerages with a high number of high class devils. They were just too overpowered within the rules of a rating game.

"And a _human_ does? What makes you so sure he can make something to get around _immortality_?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"I'm not." The redhead grimaced. "But Issei— _Hyoudou_ is the only option we have." She needed to stop that. Calling him so familiarly, like he was a _friend_...

Her peerage remained silent, unhappy with the thought. Yet, if it would lead to their King, their _savior_ , getting out of an unhappy marriage, they would put up with the scientist. Afterwards, however, they would gladly follow the rest of the scientist's offer, and never interact with the human again. The sooner he was out of their minds, the better.

Unfortunately, one member had trouble doing precisely that.

Koneko felt she should feel justified. She'd been right about the teen, right that he was extremely dangerous. The fact that there was no way in hell for him to _ever_ join her King's peerage should have been a relief. But something about the situation left a heavy feeling in her stomach. It'd be easy to just write Issei off as a sadist, as someone who cared little for anyone besides himself. And she could feel that while both of those labels had some truth in them, she could also sense that there was more. As a Nekoshou, she had always been more in tune with the natural energy of both the world _and_ other people, and as such could feel something _else_ was off about the scientist.

The darkness inside of him, the monster he truly was, had been restrained. Held in check by something she'd never seen before, a limit that _had_ to have been of his own creation. And he'd said so himself, hadn't he? That while the scientist had thought of dissecting her—Koneko suppressed a shiver—since the moment he saw her, he would never have acted on the impulse. Issei had only decided to take action when he found out she wasn't human. Which meant that if he never knew she was a devil, he would have restrained himself, because it was clearly some sort of rule of his to never dissect a human.

The scientist had also said that he hadn't known about the existence of the supernatural beforehand, which implied that he would have restrained himself knowing that there would never be a release. To live with part of yourself imprisoned... she knew what that was like. Even now, she felt the urge to perform senjutsu, to give in to her natural instincts.

And if she suddenly found out that there was a way to do senjutsu without any repercussions, without any danger to her sanity? Because that's what essentially happened to him, wasn't it? The scientist had found a loophole to to a prison he'd been ready to live in for the rest of his life, a way to release his darkness without breaking his rule. Even if it scared her, even if what he wanted was repulsive, Koneko couldn't hate someone who was so similar to herself,.

Because even if she hated what senjutsu had done to her sister and feared the effect it would have on her, the Nekoshou could still feel that a part of her desired to use it all the same, to release part of _who she was_.

Hell, the scientist had shown more restraint than she thought possible by not going after them immediately. Instead, he had waited for a week, and even then the only reason he'd moved dissecting them up on his schedule was because his home had been broken into by Rias and Sona.

After her sister had gone on a rampage and Koneko had been rescued by the redheaded devil, the Nekoshou had read up on psychology in an attempt to understand what had happened to her sister. It hadn't helped, but she still remembered what she had learned. And people like Issei, people whose only sense of morality was in what they could observe from other people, people who felt that allowing others to know what they were could only end in pain, tended to have a safe place. A place where they could be themselves, where no one else was allowed to be in.

And when the two Kings had broken into what was presumably his safe place? The scientist had gone from being able to wait a week to not even being able to wait a day. The only time during the entire confrontation at the church that Issei had shown _any_ emotion was when he talked about how they'd invaded his home. He'd been upset, and unlike before in the empty classroom, it hadn't had anything to do with his darkness. He'd talked about how he was going to dissect them, but if the beam that had been shot from his floating plates had been anything to go by, there wouldn't have been much left to take apart. From this, Koneko could only conclude that the reason he tried to kill them had more to do with their breaking and entering than anything else.

The scientist had even said it at he end, hadn't he? That he considered trespassing a justifiable excuse for murder.

And while none of this was an excuse for trying to kill them, Koneko couldn't help but understand him. And maybe—she blushed—that was why he said he had a crush on her. While they didn't have the senses of a Nekoshou, humans were primarily herd animals and were therefore more capable at this sort of thing than _any_ other supernatural being was. In her, had he sensed a kindred spirit? Had he subconsciously felt that she could understand his plight, but had mistaken it for attraction?

Whatever the case, Koneko knew that she would have to let it go. Similar or not, the fact that he had tried to kill them would ensure that neither her nor her peerage would ever have much to do with him.

Koneko just wished that the disappointment she felt at that knowledge would hurry up and go away.

 **XXX**

Mittelt woke up to the odd sensation of being cold. Rather, it was the way she was cold that made it odd. She'd felt her toes freezing in the snow, the wind biting into her bones, the freezing shock of ice water.

But her _insides_ being cold? That was new. And surprisingly not all that unpleasant. Just odd. And cold.

But it was strange enough that she knew she had to open her eyes, which she did, only to immediately shut them tight. A bright light shone directly onto her from above. She tried to move, but found that her limbs weren't working.

"Ah, you've woken up at just the right time." A flat voice said, and she felt the light shining down on her lessen, just a bit. Opening her eyes once more, the young fallen found a dark figure leaning over her, blocking out the light. Its features were indistinct, but the voice had sounded male. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but was unable to do more than make her lips twitch.

"I've learned my lesson since last time. Instead of just a singular dose, you've been put on a drip to maintain your immobility, yet allow you to wake up. Fortunately for you, that's also enough that you shouldn't feel anything more than some small discomfort." The voice informed her mechanically.

The knowledge that she was being drugged was more than enough to kick start her mind, starting from the last thing she remembered. She had been fighting the human when wires wrapped around her, electricity running through her body. She had lost. And if she was here, being drugged, she doubted Dohnaseek had fared any better. But what did he mean by discomfort? It almost sounded like something a doctor would say, yet it filled her with dread. As if her subconsciousness had realized something that she hadn't yet.

"Note: despite having such a small body, there is a disproportionately large amount of holy power within it, equal to Yuuma's. However, it isn't as concentrated as Yuuma's, and is spread thinly, unlike Yuuma's dense cores." The figure said, holding its his hand to his face. Yuuma? Did he mean Raynare? Was this the same human who had defeated her? And how was he measuring her holy power?

Mittelt's mind was racing, trying to figure out how he knew all of this, but every time she zeroed in on the reason, it seemed to slip through her grip, as if it were water. All she could do was gather the clues: the strange coldness, the light, the drugs, the doctor-like manner, _her insides_. It was so close, yet her mind refused to accept it, refused to acknowledge the mere possibility of _that_ being the case, except she still didn't know what _that_ was, and—

"Ah, my bad." The light above her dimmed in its intensity, and she could finally make out the features of the figure. Cold brown eyes, brown hair, an average face. Issei Hyoudou, the human Raynare had gone to kill, the human they had kidnapped, the human they had lost to. He wore a dispassionate expression on his face, dully looking her over. "I forgot about the light. Now, I have a few questions."

The fallen girl tried to answer, tried to tell him that she'd answer whatever questions he had. He looked down at her, a hint of amusement on his face. "Oh, not you. I doubt you'd have the information I want. I was talking to him. Here, let me."

He gently placed his gloved palms on her cheeks, turning her head for her. There, to her right, lay Dohnaseek, his own head turned to face her. His eyes were wide, and she could see the horror within them.

"You see, he didn't want to talk, which meant I had to skip ahead to the vivisection. I'll probably get back to him after I'm done with you." The teen patted her head. "Don't worry, you'll live through it. In fact, you won't even have any scars once I get Asia down here."

Mittelt felt as though she'd been punched in the chest. She couldn't breathe, yet she wanted to scream.

The human turned an interested eye to her body. "Oh, that's interesting. I wonder..." He disappeared from her view for a moment, then returned with a mirror in hand. He turned the fallen's head back to its original position, facing the ceiling. Then he crouched by her ear and held up the mirror in front of her. The fallen froze. What she had felt only a moment ago was _nothing_ to now.

The skin of her chest had been pulled back, metal stakes pinning it in place. Her heart lay bare to the world, beating softly in her drugged state. There, on one of the tubes connecting the flow of blood from the heart to the body was a small black ring. Pink energy, the color of her holy power, suffused her body.

As she struggled to breathe, the human—no, the monster had resumed speaking. "That ring is made to contract at the press of a button. Once it does, well... It won't end well for you. Just something to keep in mind."

Panic set in.

"Oh, look at that! Note: on going into shock, holy power seems to act in a defensive manner..."

 **XXX**

 **I've decided to do something that may not be popular. I'm not going to be updating as frequently as before. The main reason I was updating so fast in the first place was to break 20,000 words, something I've never done before in my own personal stories. Now that I have, I'll only be updating once a week, twice if get a chapter done particularly fast. Also, chapters will be around the size of this one, maybe a little bigger since this is essentially an epilogue to the first arc if you don't count the first scene.**

 **Also, a chapter every two days was making me a little crazy. The extra time will help me edit my chapters more, as the errors in the last few have been particularly glaring.**

 **I see people have been wanting the devils to face the fate of Yuuma. Unfortunately, that won't happen. Or rather, it _can't_. You see, it was my intention in the first chapter to do just that. It was only a one shot, though, which meant I hadn't thought it through that far. If I had, and had also continued with that goal, the story would have probably ended before now.**

 **Because Sirzechs and Leviathan. Two massive siscons with the power to destroy Japan multiple times over? Issei would have died the moment they found out their sisters were missing. As would Japan.**

 **He couldn't have invented his way out of that. You see, Highschool DxD is a lot like DBZ in that the difference between the bottom—Rias and her peerage, Yamcha—and the top—Sirzechs, Goku—is so ridiculous that anything short of _time_ and _training_ will do nothing. Two things that this Issei doesn't have if Rias and Sona are gone. _If_ Issei knew about them, _if_ he believed they were as powerful as they are, then _maybe_ he could have come up with something.**

 **The ring on the heart thing is from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Battle Tendency.**

 **And finally, I tried to do something a little different with the POV in Koneko's section, mainly by going to her own without a break. The reason I use breaks in the first place is because I'm more used to writing in first person. You can probably tell due to how close the figurative camera zooms in on the characters I focus on, but I want to try to get used to going in and out of a characters thoughts. As for why I didn't just write this in first person, I simply wanted to get better at third person.**

 **Please review and tell me how you think the chapter went!**


	6. Chapter 6

The moon shone brightly upon the city of Kuoh. In the darkness of night, it was almost as bright as the sun.

At least, it was for Namur. Wearing a dark blue jacket and black jeans, he resembled nothing more than a typical human, although his tanned skin made him an odd sight in japan. Nevertheless, he was quite far from human, being a devil. More than that, he was a stray, one of those who betrayed their King and ran from the responsibilities associated with being a reincarnated devil.

Namur almost laughed at the thought. It had been fine, at first. Being a devil meant none of the things he had formerly associated with the beings. No soul stealing, no murder, no lying... well, not to human clients, at least. He had become a devil after proposing to his then girlfriend, who had turned out to be a devil herself. She had refused him at first, on account of the difference in their lifetimes. Fortunately, or so he thought, her King had thought otherwise, and had offered him peerage. Apparently, Namur just _happened_ to be in possession of a powerful Sacred Gear. Thanking his luck, Namur had accepted.

How gullible he had been, so in love that he hadn't seen the wires controlling him.

He did now, though, and would never be tricked in such a way again. So he had left his peerage a good number fewer, and was now on the run from bounty hunters and exorcists alike. In an attempt to escape their pursuit, the stray had ventured into the Gremory territory of Kuoh, for two reasons: one, no bounty hunter would ever step foot in the territory of a family that had produced a Great Satan, and two, the city was under the jurisdiction of the family's heir. As for why the latter was a reason to risk the former, it was known to those of less _scrupulous_ means that the heir, a young girl, was inexperienced in hunting strays, only going for the louder, more monstrous strays instead of the more subtle ones such as himself.

That was not to say he was weak, of course. The opposite, actually. While the less intelligent devils devoured humans with no moderation whatsoever in an attempt to gain power, allowing the ancient bestial aspects of devils to surface due to the rapid influx of energy, strays such as himself ate humans with much less frequency, allowing the energy gained from the action to settle within his current form. This allowed Namur to maintain his human appearance while still allowing the rapid growth of power associated with a stray devil.

And while this method wasn't exactly secret, there wasn't much a young devil could do to stop him. An experienced hunter would use massive flocks of airborne familiars, usually outfitted with some form of demonic power detection. As a devil who hadn't even engaged in the rating games yet, the Gremory heiress wasn't allowed the use of such military resources, a defense against an heir killing ones' parents in an attempt to gain their position.

Thus, Namur was free to roam and devour, as long as he controlled himself. Lack of resources or not, a huge amount of deaths would draw attention. So the stray had settled on the factory district as a hunting ground, a place where few humans ventured at night but enough _did_ that eating his fill wasn't a problem. Of course, he hadn't made the mistake of squatting in the area. Instead, he had rented a cheap motel room to spend his downtime in, the last place someone expected a human devouring devil to reside.

Well, the last place a devil hunter would expect, anyway. He remembered having an irrational fear of cannibals in motels as a human.

Tonight Namur did just as he always did, strolling through the empty streets looking for prey. There was something off though. A stillness to the air around that was familiar to him, though it was usually he that caused it. There was a predator hunting tonight, and the stray had a feeling that he was its intended prey. Though he maintained his calm exterior, his inner thoughts were anything but.

Had an exorcist decided to risk angering one of the Great Satans? They were only the devil hunter so fanatic as to chance that, so it must have been the case. But that didn't sound right. The mentality of an exorcist was to relentlessly engage the target, utilizing holy weapons to mercilessly pursue the devil and wear down the supernatural being. There was no defense in the exorcist handbook, only ambush followed by a blistering and unpredictable offense that even the speed of a knight had issues overcoming.

The fact that Namur hadn't been attacked by now meant one of two things. One, he had come across one of the more 'specialized' exorcists—usually one who had access to a powerful holy sword—who didn't need to rely on such brutal tactics. Two, he had somehow alerted the Gremory heiress to his existence, and she had decided to exterminate him.

He didn't know which one to hope for. In the former, he faced almost certain death at the hands of a soul destroying blade, and in the latter he faced the younger sister of a Great Satan known for his... _affectionate_ tendencies towards his younger sibling. While he could most likely defeat her and her peerage with ease, the cost of doing so was too much to bear.

A delicious scent carried by the wind stopped him in his tracks. Human, with a hint of holy power. Namur grinned at his luck.

There was a Sacred Gear user hunting him, one that hadn't been reincarnated as a devil. It was likely that the Sacred Gear was one that specialized in tracking, to have found him. As for why its user was hunting him, the stray could only assume that it was a human who had recently come into knowledge of the supernatural, and had taken their possession of a gift by God as a sign that they should play hero. And though Namur knew that was a stupidly naive way of seeing the world, he also acknowledged that it was something he himself might have done if he hadn't become a devil.

He would still kill and eat the human for being so foolish, but he would do as quickly and painlessly as possible out of respect for one so similar to his past self. Following the scent, Namur came across an empty intersection. There, in the center of the square, was his newfound prey.

He was a strange sight. A teenager with brown hair wearing a stark white lab coat, one hand lazily in his coat pocket. He was staring dully at Namur, as if it were only natural for them to meet here.

Stepping up to meet him, Namur stopped at the edge of white pedestrian crossing lines, leaving half a street's distance between the two. There was no reason to be impolite, the stray devil decided. Besides, he never got to talk to anyone these days. "Hello, human. Quite brave of you to meet me face to face like this."

The human rose an eyebrow, a hint of interest in an otherwise apathetic demeanor. "Is it? I've never considered myself brave."

"To meet with a stray devil, unaided?" Namur widened his eyes in mock shock, grinning. "What else would you call it?"

To his surprise, the human merely yawned at him. "Curiosity, mostly." Then his lips twisted into a small smirk. "And I wouldn't call myself unaided."

Only instinct prompted Namur to leap backward from his position, just narrowly avoiding the concrete cracking blur that smashed onto where he had previously stood. As the stray landed in a crouch, one arm on the ground to steady himself, his attacker rose from the ground and turned to face him.

A sleek black dog almost half the size of a car stood menacingly between Namur and the human, one glaring red eye piercing the darkness. Then it surged forward at speeds rivaling a car, the road beneath it shattering with every pounding step.

Namur was in the air, wings unfurled, the tip of his feet just barely escaping the beast's tail as if groped for him. "Canis Lykaon?!"

The Inugami of the Black Blade, a Longinus class Sacred Gear possessed by the human known only as the Slash Dog of the Grigori. Said to take the form of a large black dog, it was a Sacred Gear fully capable of operating independently of its user. There were rumors of the user being Japanese, but for Namur to encounter Slash Dog here, in Gremory territory? No, forget the sheer impossibility of this event, the stray needed to leave _now_.

Just as he prepared to take off as fast as possible—a token effort, as it was known that Slash Dog was unnaturally fast for a human—he noticed something. Or rather, he noticed something _missing_. No holy power, no demonic energy, not even an actual scent! This thing wasn't even alive, yet alone a Sacred Gear. What was he dealing with here?

The stray rose higher in the air, away from the angular black dog as it looked up at him eagerly, cable like tail swaying over its body. Namur looked over to the human, who had stopped smirking and was staring at him with the same apathetic expression as before. "You got something real interesting there, huh?"

"I hate fliers."

The night flashed red, and the stray found himself falling, his wings in searing agony. The monster below him reared up on its back legs and swiped at him with a massive clawed foreleg. Biting down a scream at the pain, Namur twisted his body out of the strike's path, just narrowly avoiding being disemboweled by the razor sharp claws. For a moment, time stopped as he celebrated his quick thinking.

Then, mid-air, he felt something wrap around his ankle. With a quick snap of its deceptively thin tail, the stray devil flew a dozen meters across the intersection in an instant. His back slammed into a street light, the steel pole shrieking like nails against a chalkboard as it bent to match his form. Groaning, Namur pulled himself to his feet, dazed.

He was pulled out of his stupor when the rapid crushing of concrete, like an out of control jackhammer, came rushing toward him. A glance up revealed that the beast had cleared the distance as fast as any Knight could. As it swung its clawed foreleg forward with a crack of air, Namur activated his Sacred Gear.

In an instant, the stray simply ceased to have a skeletal structure. Nor did he have organs, muscles, tissues, blood, anything that made up a normal creature. In its place, dense, pure flesh made up the entirety of his being. The road beneath his feet cracked at the sudden increase of mass, far more than any vehicle that had ever traveled across it. Mass that was ready to be shaped, changed into something new.

Corporeal Soul. A Sacred Gear to make the soul physical, it had changed drastically upon Namur becoming a stray devil, a devourer of men. His body lost the consistency of a normal being, and became that of a formless beast of hungry flesh. While Corporeal Soul was a Sacred Gear that could, with the right user, rival one of the infamous Longinus in power, its current state could be considered weak and tainted. Nevertheless, Namur had found uses for the new form of his Sacred Gear.

His arms doubled in size, muscles bulging grotesquely, black claws the size of his forearm replacing his hands in a blur of twisting flesh. The stray's tumorous arms hammered forward, claws digging into the form of the beast with the sound of screeching metal, stopping the charging monster in its tracks. With a mighty heave, Namur lifted the beast off the ground and spun, slamming it into the dented street light with enough force to snap the steel pole in two. The monster slid limply down the remainder of the pole while the rest of the street light crashed into the street, barely missing the human.

Namur turned to face the human, who looked at the downed light as one would observe a particularly interesting rock. "That thing's pretty good. What is it, by the way?"

"A machine, for one." The brown haired teen said flatly. "So you'll have to do a little more than that."

"What?" The stray blinked before his eyes widened in shock. Turning around with his arms crossed across his chest, the skin hardened into the same material as his claws, Namur prepared to receive a staggering blow.

What he got was the beast's gaping mouth facing him from its downed position. "The fuck?"

Then the world was a mix of blinding yellow and burning red, heat seeping into his body as flames licked across his form. A high pitched wail rang out from Namur's mouth, before it too was covered in flame, baking the inside of his throat black. His burning corpse collapsed, the black beast hovering over it cautiously. It finally nodded in confirmation, stepping over the body with a lightness it hadn't displayed during the battle.

" _ **Master, I have dispatched your foe as silently as the night itself, as you requested. Let us take the spoils of victory back to—"**_

The beast lurched forward, smashing it's metal snout on the concrete. Turning its head back, its shining red eye saw a blackened hand gripping its tail. The stray had quietly risen, its body devoid of any sign of life, empty eye sockets glaring. Then Namur pulled, lifting the beast by the tail and swinging it into the moonlit night. A few seconds later, a crash sounded from several blocks down the street.

Namur's latest form of Corporeal soul had allowed the stray multiple abilities. One, the ability to change his form to suit his needs. Two, more mass and strength than any natural animal and most supernatural ones as well. And three, nigh immortality. Fire was one of the few natural things that could kill him, but it needed to be more thorough than the admittedly hot spray the beast had struck with. The reason for his newfound resistance was due to the fact that his body was no longer comprised of typical things like water, blood, and organs, only flesh and nerves. Only completely destroying _all_ of his flesh would kill him—or, barring that, the use of a holy sword.

The stray turned to face the human, his empty sockets slowly being filled with redirected flesh. Then, he had eyes once more. They weren't happy.

"Thanks for getting rid of him." The teen said almost sincerely. "He just doesn't get the whole 'no talking' thing."

Namur lunged forward, flying through the air towards the human. The night flashed crimson again and again like a camera's flash, each one accompanied by a burning on his body. Yet the burning was contained, and made no move to spread, so Namur simply pushed through it in fury. It helped that there was absolutely no force to the blows, only sudden burning. Noticing this, the human started to take his hand out of his coat pocket, but not before the stray was on him, bulging arms rearing back to deliver one final crushing blow.

But when tried to swing forward, he found he couldn't move his arms. Glancing back, Namur saw that several white plates, each the size of his forearm, were pinning his arms in place. With a savage growl, the stray pulled himself free and refocused on his target.

Only to find a gloved hand inches away from his face. It was black, with red circuits crisscrossed the palm of it. That was all he noticed before it gripped the side of his face.

Electricity coursed through his unnatural body, all of the flesh comprising him frying all at once. The stray's body went rigid, and he could smell burning ozone with what little was left of his nose. It felt as if he was in that state for hours, until finally he simply ceased moving, collapsing to the ground. He was fading, his ribs hurting from the fall—wait, when had he deactivated his Sacred Gear?

Then he knew no more.

 **XXX**

The teen studied his gloved hand, frowning slightly. "Maybe lower the voltage? I wanted incapacitated, not flash fried."

A crash interrupted his musing, signaling the return of Anubis. The bipedal death machine had landed next to the scientist, eye flashing as it surveyed the area for its enemy, a deep gouge in its metal plating, though the damage seemed minimal. Upon seeing the limp form of the stray, it let out a small mechanical whine.

" _ **Master, I have failed you most grievously! The shame will cling to my metal soul for eons to come! That my most glorious Master had to combat the scum himself is nothing more than sacrilege, and I will stake every processor in my body that it shall never come to pass again! I—"**_

In a move that had become all too practiced over the last few weeks, Issei tuned the verbose machine out, focusing instead on what he had learned tonight. He needed to either make Anubis heavier or smarter in order to avoid having the unit simply thrown out of the operational area. That level of strength was common enough among devils, though it was restricted to the Rook class for the most part. And fixing Anubis was going to be a pain; the machine wasn't made from standard metals, after all. His funnels, despite being upgraded to be nearly twice as fast as before, had proven inadequate against an opponent who could simply push through lasers. An easy task if he were honest, considering that despite their pinpoint accuracy the beams—being composed of light, and not the supernatural sort—held no stopping power at all, and were best suited to more numerous, smaller targets. Or humans, but it was unlikely he'd ever face those.

Honestly, he was at a loss on what to do with his funnels. He could sense the potential there for _something_ , but what had escaped him for the last few weeks.

On a more optimistic note, his new implants had performed extraordinarily well. He had been able to see every movement of the high speed battle with remarkable clarity thanks to his Accel modification to his neural implant. The mod increased the rate at which his brain processed images, allowing him to constantly process the world in excess of 255 frames per second, surpassing most fighter pilots. This removed the problem he had faced with Dohnaseek, allowing him to track high speed movement which would hopefully prevent what he called 'flash stepping', something the supernatural seemed unusually fond of. Appearing a few feet from him when the enemy had previously been a rather comfortable distance away? Not anymore.

"Anubis." The scientist interrupted his creation's frantic apologies, walking away from the intersection. "Let's get the body back to the lab."

" _ **I will perform this task with the utmost zeal, Master!"**_

On the way home, Anubis with the stray in tow, Issei pondered the events of the last few weeks. After learning about stray devils from the fallen angels, he had reprogrammed his Jackals to instead search for them, using the demonic energy he'd acquired from the first devil he'd killed back in the warehouse. As they were fugitives from devil society, the scientist was completely free to do whatever he wanted to them. Like vivisection. And since he had quite a few new upgrades to try out, instead of just sending out Anubis to collect samples, Issei had accompanied the machine. Testing was important to any new product, after all. It also helped him gain experience in battle, something that would be useful whenever the devils decided to end their truce.

He held no illusions that creating a mere _two_ items would make them forget the fact that he had tried to kill him. Sooner or later, they would find a reason to get rid of him, and the scientist would be ready when they did. And the deal he had made was beginning to concern him. Not as in whether or not he could make what they asked for, but more about the fact that _they hadn't asked him to make anything_. Hell, he hadn't even _seen_ them since that day at the abandoned church. What were they up to? Had they decided not to trust something he'd make? A smart decision, even if it stung his pride as an inventor.

But if that were the case, then surely Issei would have been swarmed by devils by now? Or worse, killed, along with most of Japan if what his prisoners had told him was true.

The knowledge that Rias was the younger sister of one of the leaders of an entire race had almost made Issei collapse in relief at having not managed to kill her. He could do a lot of things, but guard against a being _that_ powerful?

The sound of Anubis launching into the distance, tail wrapped around the stray's neck, told Issei that he was nearing home. The robot had automatically gone to the secret entrance the scientist had built as an escape route if his workshop was ever under attack.

As the teen stepped up to his door, he wondered why he wasn't following the black machine, as he would be going to the lab anyway. Unlocking the door, he stepped through the threshold, calling out his usual 'I'm home' as ritual dictated.

"Welcome back, Sir!" An exuberant voice answered, something that had only recently been added to his ritual, and also the thing that kept him from following Anubis through the escape tunnel. Excitedly running into the entry hall, a young blonde girl with stunning green eyes approached the scientist with a bright smile, somewhat out of breath. Asia Argento, the blind nun he had found in the abandoned church, though she didn't quite fit that moniker anymore.

Bionic eyes being something he had come up with a few years ago, the scientist had been eager to finally install them into someone. He would have done it to himself, but his parents had been very clear on not replacing parts of his body unless he had no other option—a restriction that chafed him even today. He could add things, like his brain implants, but if it involved taking something out of his body, he wasn't allowed. Which was a shame, considering that Issei could have had more mechanical parts than Alex Murphy and Adam Jensen put together by now. Still, while the scientist had few morals to speak of, respecting his parents' wishes was one he held very dear.

But on the subject of Asia's new eyes, Issei had managed to dig up and re-size one of his old models, along with a few enhancements. The only complication had been the surgery the former nun's eye sockets had needed, but that was something the scientist had known how to do for years. Of course, there were consequences to his actions that he hadn't considered.

"Sir, are you alright? Do you need any healing, or some coffee?" The small blonde flitted around him like a mother bird checking on its young, gently tugging at his clothing in an attempt to direct him to the kitchen. The scientist submitted to her tender administrations without a struggle, knowing that the girl be unable to sleep if he left for school without being checked over.

Ever since Asia had regained her vision, she had seen it as her duty to serve him in any way she could. She followed his commands with a fervent passion that resembled a religious fanatic obeying the words of an unforgiving god, as if one mistake would have deemed her unfit to be in his presence. Considering that her old god had apparently abandoned the girl, Issei feared the analogy was more accurate than he wanted it to be.

As she sat him down at the head of the dining room table, the scientist stopped her before she went to fetch his coffee. "No coffee, it's almost morning. Don't want to stay up any longer than necessary."

Really, the fact that she had changed her sleeping schedule to match his own said enough about her devotion.

"Ah! I'm so sorry Sir, should I get breakfast started instead?" The blonde frantically offered, wringing her wrists as she stood before him nervously. Issei eyed her almost fearful behavior distastefully before shaking his head.

"No, I'll do that. Go get our guests." Asia pouted at his rejection, but nodded her head nonetheless. The girl had been trying to prepare breakfast for him ever since she could see again, but Issei was unwilling to give up his ritual. It helped to normalized him, keep his control tight. The fact that he was forgoing his regular shower was only due to the fact that he'd been out collecting the stray and didn't have the time for it this morning. Well, not without Asia stealing his kitchen duties from him while he was cleaning himself.

Issei went about making his usual breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage patties, though he made quite a bit more than usual. In fact, he'd need to go grocery shopping soon. Again. It would third time this week he would have to do that. The perils of living with others, he supposed.

The sound of half-awake cursing from the dining room told him Asia had done her task, a good thing as he was nearly done with breakfast. If she had managed to drag them to the table earlier, the former nun would have no doubt attempted to take over whatever he hadn't finished. As it was, she only got to help him carry the meal to the table, pouting all the while.

Sitting at the head of the table, Asia settling in the seat to his right, Issei observed the two other additions to his household.

With one empty chair between them, Dohnaseek sat at his left wearing his usual ensemble and anxiously glancing at him from the corner of his eye. The man had been wary of Issei since he began to live in the teens home—understandable, considering the various experiments that had been run on him. Still, the fact that the scientist tended to make the experience as painless as possible seemed enough to engender a strange sort politeness between the two.

Next to him, however, sat Mittelt. She still wore her overly ornate dress, but her attitude differed greatly from her comrade's. "Scrambled eggs again!? You've got to be fucking with me! Look, Frankenstein, haven't you ever heard of eggs over easy?"

Issei twitched at the oddly appropriate nickname the blonde haired loli had given him. Whereas Dohnaseek seemed determined to avoid irritating him in any way at all, Mittelt seemed to revel in the attempt. Considering he had woken her up in the middle of an operation multiple times to show her what kind of power he had over her in retaliation, the fact that she kept doing so confused him to no small end.

Normally, he would have kept the fallen sedated at all times, only conscious enough to answer his occasional questions. In this case, considering all the detection devices and kill-switches he'd installed within them, he felt perfectly fine with them freely roaming about the house. Even Asia had been fine with it—apparently, it had been Kalawarner that had blinded her, something he could believe. Dohnaseek was nowhere near sadistic enough to be so messy about immobilizing a prisoner, while Mittelt was more bark than bite.

Still, she had a point this time. "I only know how to make scrambled eggs."

The female fallen scoffed, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. "Pathetic. Why don't you just learn how, then? Or at least let your _nurse_ do the cooking." The blonde mocked, turning her attention to Asia.

Almost instinctively, Issei glanced to his right, where Asia seemed inordinately pleased by title Mittelt had given her. With what the former nun had taken to wearing, it was an apt title indeed.

Upon being able to see again, Asia had noticed that he wore a lab coat whenever possible. From there, the girl had somehow gotten it into her head that Issei was a doctor of some sort, which had lead her to the utterly bizarre conclusion that he needed a nurse. And so, she had started to refer to him as 'Sir' and began to wear a nurse's outfit.

Except it clearly wasn't. With a skirt that was far too high above her knees, white stockings, and a white top that clung tightly to her form, she was clearly wearing the famous 'sexy nurse' costume. He had no idea where Asia had gotten it, but the teen had a feeling that Mittelt had something to do with it. Asia clearly thought that the costume was standard nurse attire, and had been confused when he'd tried to explain that what she was wearing belonged more in a specialty shop than a hospital. Issei had given up at that point, instead choosing to enjoy what was given to him.

He was still a teenager, after all.

Issei blinked when the nun-turned-nurse started to blush under his gaze. Had he been staring? Shaking his head to clear his mind, the scientist chose to ignore his lapse in concentration. "I'll try something else tomorrow."

Mittelt huffed in response, biting her bottom lip as she frowned at him. Were scrambled eggs really that bad? They were the only thing his mother had managed to teach him before she died, and he never got tired of them. Studying his eggs carefully, the scientist resolved to try something else.

But that was tomorrow. For now he picked up his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu."

Only Asia mirrored him—much more cheerfully than himself— while the fallen simply began to eat, not that Issei minded. Even Asia's attempt to copy him was unnecessary, considering the phrase was just another way to ground him to reality and strengthen his control. A ritual to remind him of his parents, of their wishes regarding him.

He'd forgotten to do any of them the week after finding out about the extent of the supernatural. If his short-sighted decisions during that time were anything to go by, Issei would make sure to never forget again.

* * *

School was the same as ever for Issei, barring a few notable exceptions.

The most outstanding of which was the fact that his fellow classmates didn't ignore him anymore. Instead, they had tried to include him in conversations, invite him to eat lunch with them, or even pass notes to him during class.

He only ever spared them enough attention to glare at them before returning to sleep. He supposed this was the natural result of being called to the Occult Research Club—which he'd learned was the name of the club Rias was in charge of—twice. Almost everybody in the school seemed to think he had an 'in' with the club, and wanted on his good side. The fact that in the weeks since he'd had no contact with _any_ member of the club didn't seem to change that.

The scientist only wished it didn't interrupt his sleep.

Another change was the constant feeling of being watched. Issei assumed that it was the work of 'familiars', something Dohnaseek had informed him of, and did his best to ignore it. Considering how close he had come to killing several high profile members of devil society, it was only common sense to keep him under surveillance. The only thing that irked him was that these 'familiars' seemed to outperform his Jackals, something that had immediately set him to upgrading them.

All of that was annoying, but easily disregarded. What wasn't so easily dismissed was the fact that everywhere he looked, he seemed to see Koneko. Before and after school in the courtyard, passing by his classroom during lunch, she was everywhere. It was driving him crazy, making his fingers twitch for a scalpel or causing his thoughts to wonder on her pleasantly shaped bottom, or her soft hair, or the fact that her eyes were just so _big_ and her mouth was so—

Ah. He was doing it again. What was worse was that Issei could think of no way to stop these thoughts. He couldn't just _stop_ thinking about her when she was _right there_. If the scientist didn't know any better, he'd say she was going out of her way to be seen by him. A ridiculous notion, to be sure. It was probably only his enhanced awareness of the catlike girl that had him noticing her now when she had probably always been there, another face among the crowd of students that he habitually ignored.

Still, the scientist had been careful to control himself. If he ever acted on his urges, he'd probably have an army set on him.

"Hyoudou." A clipped voice roused him from his sleep, though not one he was familiar with. Shifting his head to the side, Issei analyzed the boy before him. Blond, like Bishounen, but lacking the soft features necessary to also be a bishounen. Overall, an average looking person that blended in with the environment, much like himself. Why, then, did he seem familiar? And why was the blond glaring at him?

"Who are you?" Issei didn't bother lifting his head, merely blandly staring at the blond.

The boy's face twisted into a snarl, and he looked as though he were about to yell. He clenched his teeth in an effort to keep from shouting. "I'm Saji Genshiro. The Student Council would like to speak with you."

Student Council. AKA, Sona's group of devils. Were they finally going to make a request?

Issei stood from his seat, grabbed his pack, and nodded to the devil before him in understanding. The blond turned and lead him out of the classroom and into the hall.

Where Koneko stood, eyes wide in surprise.

The scientist clamped down on his instincts, though he couldn't stop himself from staring at her. He managed to keep his gaze limited to her face, more specifically her eyes. There was an odd emotion in them, one he neither expected nor recognized. There was none of the fear that should have been present, not even anger or defiance. If anything, the small white haired girl seemed... nervous. A strangely muted reaction to the one who had attempted to dissect and kill her.

"Get your eyes off her!" An angry shout caused him to blink, and look away from the catlike girl. The blond boy stood uncomfortably close to him, fists clenched at his sides as he growled at the scientist. "Don't even think about it."

Issei blinked again, looking between Koneko—who was still staring at him—and the angry devil. "Ah. My bad." Carefully keeping his eyes on the blond boy, the scientist gestured down the hall. "Can we hurry up? It's dangerous here."

Extremely dangerous. Either his control was getting weaker, or the urges were getting stronger. The male devil narrowed his eyes, but continued down the hall, Issei close behind him. He could feel Koneko's gaze on his back, still smell the sweet aroma that enveloped her form.

Were crushes supposed to be this intense? If so, getting rid of it was going to be a problem.

* * *

Issei sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair before an ornate desk, behind which sat Sona. At her side stood a tall girl with absurdly long black hair and glasses, while the rest of her peerage sat at workstations situated around the room, carefully attempting to look busy while their King talked to him.

"Hyoudou-san"—The Sitri heiress adjusted her glasses, causing light to glint off them menacingly—"before we continue, I'd like to make it clear that if you ever harm another student in my school, it won't end pleasantly for you."

The scientist cocked his head at her, confused. "It's almost been a month since we made our deal, and _now_ you try to warn me?" He shook his head disapprovingly. "How careless of you. Nonetheless, you don't need to worry about me harming humans. I've always controlled myself in regards to other people."

"Then why did you nearly attack Toujou-san on the way here?" Sona frowned at him, clearly not believing him.

"One, that didn't happen. The not-bishounen exaggerated that encounter."—Said person started to grind his teeth at the nickname—"Two, Koneko's a devil. As in not human. I'd have no reason to hold back if it weren't for our deal."

Sona narrowed her eyes. "You don't think devils are people?" The rest of her peerage stopped pretending to work at her lecturing tone, instead focusing on them. "We think. We have feelings. We hate, lust, love, care, just like humans. Just because we aren't human you think we're not people? You think humans are the only ones who matter? That—"

Issei yawned, loudly. The devils in the room were glaring at him now, not that he cared. Still he supposed he should explain himself somewhat. "Look, I already know all that. Your species is pretty much just a stronger version of humanity, I get that. But the fact is that you aren't _human_ , and I was only ever told not to hurt humans."

"Told?" Sona pursed her lips while the rest of her peerage looked confused. "Who told you not to hurt humans?"

The scientist sighed in exasperation. "My parents, obviously." Really, who else would it have been?

If anything, that only made Sona look more frustrated. "Did they know about the supernatural?"

"Nope. Hey, can we get to the point of this meeting? Lunch period is about to end, and I'd prefer to get back to sleep before then." Issei said impatiently, his lack of sleep beginning to show. He hated being woken up at school, and it was starting to become a pattern.

The high class devil glanced to the clock, surprised at the time, before schooling her features once more. "Fine. But answer one more question for me. If your parents _had_ known about the supernatural, would they have allowed you to act like this towards us?"

Issei frowned slightly. Would they have? He already knew the answer. The scientist looked down at the floor as he felt something heavy settle within his stomach. "No. But it's called a loophole for a reason."

There was a shade of something he couldn't identify in his voice, and it scared him.

Luckily, the bell signaling the end of the period rang. Standing from his seat, ignoring the pitying looks some of the devils sent him for a reason he couldn't fathom, Issei picked up his bag. "Well, time to get to sleep."

"Stop." He turned back to the short haired girl behind the desk. The ghost of a smirk tugged at her lips. "If you're just going to sleep, I think we can continue our meeting."—she shot a look to her peerage as they visibly brightened at the opportunity—"Everyone else can go back to class though."

The scientist cursed his bluntness as the devils filed out of the room, leaving him alone with Sona.

* * *

Issei staggered into his home as sunset fell.

Sona was a monster. She'd spent hours picking his brain about what fields of study he specialized in, asking him how he worked around a limited budget, why he wasted his time with Gundam instead of Star Wars, and so much more! Damn it, it felt like he was being interviewed for a job as a teacher! She hadn't even hinted as to what she wanted him to make for her, and when he straight up asked, she said she had no intention of using his offer frivolously.

 _What did that mean?!_

Not to mention Issei still had that odd weight in his stomach. Usually whenever he felt like that, he managed to push it down until he couldn't feel it anymore, but now? It wouldn't go away. Maybe he needed a distraction? But what?

The scientist paused, still in the entryway. Had he forgotten something?

"Sir, you're back!" Asia came running, tears in her eyes. She barreled into his chest, a small nurse themed missile slamming him back against the door. As he groaned in pain, he recognized a sound he hadn't heard in quite a while. His shirt was getting wet as well, which confirmed his suspicions as well as making him regret not removing her tear ducts.

Asia was crying. Slipping his arms around her waist, Issei leaned back against the door as she further pressed against him. "Asia, what happened?"

She sniffed into his chest before looking up at him, eyes red and face flushed. "Y-you didn't come home. You always come home at the same time, but you didn't, and those devils are at school, and I... I thought they did something to you..."

Reburying her face in the scientist's chest, Asia clutched at his now ruined shirt, shaking slightly.

Issei stared blankly into space. The nurse was acting like _this_ because he was late? She acted as if it'd been years since he came home instead of just a few hours. Maybe she was a little _too_ dependent on him. Could he fix that? Was it anything like repairing a machine? Because that was the extent of his experience in this subject; the scientist much preferred taking things apart. Still, he had to try, even if he didn't quite know _why_ he had to. As his resolution to fix Asia solidified, Issei noticed something strange, something that required further investigation.

The odd weight in his stomach had disappeared.

 **XXX**


End file.
